YuGiOh! A Matter of Family
by Skyla Doragono
Summary: Rated for language. Side story to my YGOHP crossover series. For all the boys in Japan, especially Bakura and Yami Bakura, all it comes down to is a matter of family...
1. Everything's Coming up Relatives

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family  
.  
.  
**Yay! After much instances of bashing my head against the desk, I've finally come out with the first chapter of the side story to my YGO/HP crossover series. Special thanks goes out to my good friend, JediRose, for helping me come up with the idea, and for RPing it with me.

As always, read, enjoy, and then review.  
**.  
.  
.  
CHAPTER ONE – EVERYTHING'S COMING UP RELATIVES**  
  
The summoning of ones kaa took nothing more than the utmost concentration. Of course, there were other things involved, such as knowing what the spirit beast that would emerge would look like, in addition to attack power and defense strength. Being able to discern ones kaa from their baa helped as well, though even the most novice of monster summoners could figure that out. Mostly, though, a great amount of concentration did most of the work.  
  
Not being five thousand years out of practice helped a good deal too.  
  
Yami Bakura swore under his breath, cursing the fact that he had spent so long trapped in a damn Ring. It was not his fault that the God of Evil thought it would be fun to manipulate a tomb robber that had lost everything into nearly bringing down all of Khemet. Honest to Ra, he was entirely innocent of the whole debacle…  
  
Okay, maybe not _entirely _innocent…  
  
Okay, not innocent at all.  
  
Yami Bakura swore again, kicking at a twig that was doing nothing by lying there and being a twig. Ever since the Dark Lord, Voldemort, returned from the dead during the past school year – as well as that twisted Yami Marik – he had been trying to get back into the practice of summoning his spirit beast. The thief's God, Diaboundou, would become invaluable in the impending struggle… if only he could summon it again!  
  
The tomb robber kicked at the ground, making his way out of the empty park and back to the house him and his hikari shared. He hoped that maybe there was something he was missing… like a part of himself that he could regain through a little hard work. He refused to focus on the worse case scenario; that being that Diaboundou had been destroyed for good during that final battle against the Black Magician.  
  
His feet carried him through the streets of Domino City, Japan; past familiar shops, past faces he saw every day on the street, past the closed for the evening garage that Jonouchi worked at, past the Game Shop where Mutou Ojii-san was closing up for the night. Said elderly man waved to him as he passed, probably mistaking him for Ryou. Yami Bakura just waved back – best not to alarm the old man, after all.  
  
Finally reaching his house, the tomb robber entered without knocking, and immediately went to the kitchen, grabbing an apron along the way and slipping it over his head. During the school year, when he had asked his hikari if he could enter the Triwizard Tournament (who replied by saying he would be doing dishes for the whole summer if he did), he never expected to be stuck with his punishment if the Goblet of Fire _had not_ chosen him. Normally he would not have minded so much… but the fact that the only apron in the house was bright pink with little bunnies hopping around it sort of put a damper on the whole thing.  
  
"Next time," he grumbled to himself, "make sure crap like this is in writing."  
  
Just before he could start the sink, the doorbell rang. Yami Bakura shouted, "I'll get it!" before drying his hands off and making his way back through the kitchen to the front door in the living room. The bell rang again before he could answer it, and he grumbled about impatient people before opening the door.  
  
The man revealed on the other side was the last person the tomb robber would have expected. He was an elderly gentleman, with graying hair and tired but gentle brown eyes. His simple pants, shirt, and jacket may have once been a darkly colored brown, but time and sand had worn the color away. An old, tearing backpack was slung over his shoulder, and Yami Bakura could spot some worn small digging tools poking from a hole.  
  
The man peered up at him curiously. "Ryou, why are you wearing that ridiculous apron?" he asked. "And what on earth did you do to your hair?"  
  
Yami Bakura stuttered, trying desperately to think of a way to reply…  
  
"Bakura? Who's at the door?"  
  
Before the tomb robber could shout in warning, his hikari poked his head over his shoulder. The elderly man looked between the two of them, shock making his eyes impossibly wide…  
  
…before he promptly passed out.  
  
Bakura almost panicked. "Odou-san!" he exclaimed, ducking under his yami's arm and rushing to his father's side. Yami Bakura got over his shock at seeing the old man, shaking his head slightly as his hikari made sure he had not hit his head too hard.  
  
"Goodness…" Bakura muttered, before lifting up his father's shoulders. "Bakura, help me get him into the house."  
  
Yami Bakura just grinned. "Why? I think he makes a good doormat."  
  
"Yami…"  
  
"All right, all right…"  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Marik hummed happily to himself, finishing up a letter he was going to send off to his girlfriend in England, Hermione Granger. It was kind of pathetic really, the fact that he had only been out of school for two weeks and he already missed her, but this year he had an excuse. Last year they had been separated for so long, he had been afraid that they would have been split for good. As it turned out, however, his near death and some other contributing factors had brought the two of them together again. Sure he was going a little overboard, but he just wanted to let her know how wonderful it was to be with her… every… single… day. Okay, so he was a little obsessed…  
  
Okay,_ really_ obsessed…  
  
Oh, bah! He loved her and that was that!  
  
The rumbling of his stomach reminded him that it was time for dinner. He bounded down the stairs, practically skipping to the tune in his head as he caught a whiff of koshari. Admittedly, he was a little suspicious. Since when did his sister just make his favorite food on a whim…?  
  
He was not going to get a chance to find out, however. A magazine article caught his eye from where it rested on a table on his way to the kitchen. It was an advertisement for a new board game… a brand new, more challenging, politically correct version of Risk that Hermione had been telling him about on the train ride back to London after school let out. Marik's eyes grew wide at the sight of it.  
  
Hermione.  
  
Would.  
  
Love.  
  
It!  
  
All that could be heard in the house after that was a loud _zooooooooom_ as Marik raced back up the stairs to get his wallet, before dashing back down and out the door.  
  
"Onee-san,I'mgoingtotheKameGameShop.Bye!"  
  
_Slam!  
_  
A moment later, Isis poked her head from the kitchen, blinking in confusion. It was not hard to figure out that the purple and black streak that had made a bee-line out the door was her little brother… but… he did realize that the Game Shop was _closed_ by now… right?  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
As an active Egyptologist and explorer, Anji Bakura was used to seeing some of the strangest and most bizarre things known to man. What he saw hovering over him when he woke up on the couch in the parlor, however, was far from what he was expecting. Two different Ryous were above him… though, one did not look _exactly_ like Ryou. The other Ryou just looked… evil, for lack of a better word, with his narrow eyes and devil-spiked hair twisting his son's features into a sinister appearance. Though… oddly, the concerned look on his face seemed to tone all this down a bit, but it did not deny the fact that this person was like a… _dark_ version of his sweet and innocent son.  
  
Though, that was not necessarily the weird thing about him.  
  
"Odou-san, are you all right?" the other Ryou asked.  
  
Anji's hand flew to the back of his skull. "I must've hit my head harder than I thought…"  
  
The real Ryou giggled. "Odou-san, how could you have forgotten about my older brother?"  
  
Anji blinked. "Older… brother…?"  
  
The other Ryou pouted – a look that was just outright wrong on his face. "Hai. Boku wa Kazama," he introduced himself. "You remember, right?"  
  
Anji just stared at him. "No…"  
  
Before he could continue, the doorbell rang. "Kazama" said that he would get it, before turning around and heading for the door…  
  
Yami Bakura quietly sighed in relief when he was sure his face was not visible to Ryou's father. He knew his hikari's idea of pretending they were brothers was going to fall flat, but he did not get a chance to tell him otherwise before his father woke up. If the two of them managed to sneak by this without getting themselves hurt, or without getting Ryou's father hurt, it would be a miracle.  
  
The tomb robber was in for another surprise when he opened the door, however. Shadi was standing there, looking imposing in that beat up white robe he always wore. Yami Bakura ignored it however, letting out a quiet yelp before pushing him away from the door, throwing himself onto the porch as well and slamming the door closed behind him. He glared up at the strange Egyptian man, trying to seem threatening, but in his state of being surprised out of his mind, all that came out was a somewhat sour pout.  
  
"Since when do _you_ use a _doorbell?!"_ he demanded.  
  
Shadi just gave him an impassive look. "Since the Japanese Ministry of Magic saw it fit to place wards on the houses of the Millennium Item holders."  
  
Yami Bakura sweatdropped. "That… really wasn't necessary… 'ya know…"  
  
Shadi's lip seemed to almost twitch in a bit of a smirk, but the expression was gone before the tomb robber could even blink. Yami Bakura shook his head to clear it.  
  
"What are you doing here, anyway?"  
  
The Egyptian man's expression was deadly serious. "I want to know if you or your hikari have done any card readings recently."  
  
Yami Bakura's surprise was clearly painted on his face now. "Card readings? No… neither of us have since Duelist Kingdom. Why?"  
  
Shadi's expression seemed to get even more serious, nearly sending chills down the tomb robber's spine, and making him briefly wonder if the guy even knew how to smile.  
  
"Something bodes ill in the wind," he stated. "While there is a looming threat near the horizon that I can only presume to be Voldemort, there is something closer… something that may drastically alter our lives. I spoke to the pharaohs of it in Egypt, and they feel the same, but they cannot name it."  
  
Yami Bakura really did feel chills run down his spine at that. Something that would affect them, but Shadi did not know what it was, and Panseru and Yugi were aware of it, but could not name it either? How come nothing that ever threatened them anymore ever outright came out and told them, "Look at me! I'm a bad guy!"? Was that really so hard to do?  
  
"Look," he finally said. "Ryou and I will do a card reading later, once his dad leaves. Okay?"  
  
Shadi nodded solemnly, before an oddly concerned look crossed his face.  
  
"Be careful," his whispered, before turning around and fading away as if he never were. Yami Bakura blew out a breath he did not realize he had been holding, rubbing his hands on his face. Was there anything else that could go wrong tonight…?  
  
His unspoken question was answered when he was almost knocked off the porch and into the bushes. He steadied himself just in time to see Bakura running out across the street and down an alleyway. Yami Bakura shouted out after him as his father ran out onto the porch, shouting as well. The tomb robber glared at him, pretending to be an older brother temporarily forgotten.  
  
"What the hell did you say to him?" he snarled.  
  
Anji was about to reply, but glared down at him instead. "Who are you to speak to me that way?"  
  
Yami Bakura growled, grabbing the old man by the collar of his shirt and pulling his face down to his level.  
  
"I'm the only person who's given a shit about Ryou for the past five years, so don't give me any shit, old man!" he shouted, pushing Ryou's father away from him roughly. Anji stumbled a moment, but the tomb robber did not take notice as he bounded down the steps after his hikari.  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Sugoroku looked like he was going to scream, but Marik did not notice as he hugged the package he had just demanded to purchase. Hearts seemed to float about his head as he skipped out of the store, leaving a grumbling Grandpa Mutou behind. He had just left the store when someone running past him sent him spinning like a top. Regaining his balance, he managed just barely catch his bearings before he was plowed into from behind by someone else. The two of them fell to the ground, swearing and shouting.  
  
"Ra dammit, Gravekeeper! Get the hell out of my way!"  
  
Marik suddenly found his face shoved into the sidewalk as the person – who could only be Yami Bakura – used his head as leverage to stand up again. He sat up again, rubbing his face and trying to get the imprint from the sidewalk off of it. Angered, he shook a fist at the tomb robber's retreating back.  
  
"Watch where the hell you're going, tomb robber!"  
  
Yami Bakura ignored him, however, focusing only on his hikari running before him. A small part of his brain realized that this probably looked bad from someone else's point of view, but he really did not care at the moment. All he was concerned with was making sure Ryou did not do anything stupid, and to see what his idiot father had said that made him so upset. Accomplishing either of those tasks, though, required his lighter half to actually _stop_ running first.  
  
"Ryou, if you don't stop anytime soon I am _so_ going to kick your ass when I catch up to you!" he shouted after him, breathing hard from the run.  
  
At that, Ryou finally did stop his running, but not before turning into an alleyway. Yami Bakura entered said alleyway as well, slowing down to a walk as he approached him. The distraught teen had fallen to his knees near the end of the alley, sobbing so softly he could barely hear it. The tomb robber could not keep the concerned look from his face as he approached his hikari quietly, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder. Anytime he had seen him like this, it was usually because _he_ had done something. Of course, that was back around the time before, during, and immediately after Battle City. Since the stint involving getting the pharaoh's memories back, he had not seen his hikari cry like this since. Whatever it was Ryou's father had said that made him this upset, the tomb robber swore he was going to slug him for it.  
  
"Ryou, what's wrong?" he asked quietly, kneeling down next to him. "What did he say?"  
  
Bakura sniffed. "Odou-san… he… The only reason he came back was to warn me that my uncle was out of jail…"  
  
Yami Bakura blinked. "Okay… I didn't even know you _had_ an uncle, much less one in jail…"  
  
His hikari smiled bitterly. "Oh, he's the type of person you'd like. A total con-man and thief."  
  
The tomb robber frowned, not pleased with that. "Ryou, what's wrong with you? What'd this uncle of yours do to you?"  
  
The only sound that could be heard was Bakura's choked sobs for a long, drawn out moment. Yami Bakura looked down at his hands on an impulse, only to see that they were clenched so tightly, the knuckles were white. He reached down and placed his own hands over them, forcing him to open them.  
  
Bakura's breath hitched up in his throat, before he asked, "Bakura… I never… told you how my sister died… did I?"  
  
The tomb robber blinked, caught completely off guard by the response. Yes, he had known that his hikari had a sister that had long ago parted from the world of the living, despite the fact that he used to write letters to her. Even now, he would catch him at his desk late at night, usually when he had had a depressing day, writing out words on a special stationary he had reserved for that use. _How_ she died… well, that was something he had never dared to ask.  
  
It seemed as if he would not get a chance to now, either. The screeching of tires cut him off before he could even form the question, and him and Bakura turned to see a car coming to a quick halt, blocking their exit from the alleyway. The two of them stood up, just as five men exited the vehicle…  
  
…each one of them carrying a pistol…  
  
Yami Bakura stood protectively before his hikari, backing up until they were pressed against the far wall of the alley. This did _not_ look good…


	2. Just Rosey

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family  
.  
.  
**[Scene is Skyla's room at the Angel Wings treehouse. Skyla has her eyes glued to the TV screen and her hands glued to her GameCube controller. Yami Yugi is trying to use a crowbar to pry her hands off.]  
  
Y.Yugi: C'mon! Stop playing these stupid 8-bit games already!  
  
Skyla: Go away, you damn pharaoh! I'm trying to beat Dr. Wily again!  
  
Yugi: ::sighs:: Mou hitori no boku? May I suggest something?  
  
Y.Yugi: ::stops a moment:: What?  
  
[Yugi turns off the power button on the GameCube. Yami Yugi sweatdrops.]  
  
Y.Yugi: That works...  
  
Skyla: Hey! YUGI! T.T  
  
Yugi: :) Now you have to do a Q&A.  
  
Skyla: ::grumbles::  
  
---------------------------------------------------  
  
KAylen: Heh, good point. Actually, he means he's cared for Ryou the past five years on a "family" level as opposed to a "friend" level.  
  
Shattered Illusion: ::holding a cracked Baseball Bat of Divine Justice over her shoulder:: Don't eve do that again. .  
  
DarkSpellCaster: Yeah, this fic's supposed to be a little darker than the others, that's why.  
  
Telly: Ryou's sister is only metioned in Season 0 and the manga.  
  
Lori Kimaya: I dunno if there is an explaination for Amane's death... ::shrugs:: It's not like this fic series sticks completely to cannon anyway...  
  
MillenniumDreamer: Now why would I EVER kill a character...? XD  
  
---------------------------------------------------  
  
Skyla: Wow, people are going to hate me for this. I took so long to update, and we're still back where we started.  
  
Y.Yugi: T.T You and your cliffhangers, Sky-chan...  
  
Skyla: This chapter's dedicated to AzukiWeasel, for her help in DLing some doujinshi for me. You're the best, hun. ;)  
  
Y.Yugi: Read, enjoy, and then review.  
**.  
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CHAPTER TWO – JUST ROSEY  
**  
Bakura whimpered in slight fear, clutching onto the back of his yami's shirt as the thugs started getting closer, each one of them pointing a gun at the two of them. He was grateful for the tomb robber's protectiveness of him, and had no doubt he could take several bullets and laugh it off, but… technically, Yami Bakura was still a spirit. Would the bullets just… go through him anyway? That was not the only thing that had him so scared, however. The fact that he was in this situation again, after so many years of relative peace from modern terrors such as this…  
  
_Ryou,_ his yami's voice came over their mental link, _do you see the ladder above us?  
_  
Bakura looked up, slightly surprised. Above them was indeed a wrought iron ladder, leading up to a series of scaffoldings linked together by small staircases. The only problem was, the ladder had been pulled up by whomever was the last to use it.  
  
_I'll toss you up,_ Yami Bakura continued. _Once up there, kick it down for me, okay?  
_  
_But…_ Bakura began. _How are you going to distract them long enough to toss me up?  
_  
He did not have to be looking at his yami to see that he was smirking. Before he could blink, the tomb robber had pulled out a card from his back pocket.  
  
"Energy Bind!"  
  
Tendrils of light shot out of the green-bordered Duel Monsters card, wrapping themselves around the armed thugs, with the exception of one. While his companions struggled against their bonds, the free thug raised his gun, his finger just starting to squeeze the trigger…  
  
"Man Eater Bug!"  
  
Yami Bakura's ability to draw a card was faster. No sooner had he pulled the effect card from his back pocket and called for it, did the hideous Man Eater Bug leap to life from the Shadow Realm. The thug shouted in surprise, shooting wildly at the monster, missing by a mile each time. The bug landed on him, and the tomb robber turned to his hikari just as the man screamed in terror.  
  
Bakura wanted to be afraid too, at least more so than he already was, at what his yami was doing. He knew he had to trust the tomb robber if he was going to get out of this alive, and that meant ignoring the crunching sounds he was hearing as his yami grabbed him around the waist and tossed him up like he barely weighed anything. Bakura reached out frantically and grabbed onto the rungs of the ladder, holding onto it desperately. He pulled himself up a little, before kicking down the sliding part so his yami could follow him up. There was a grunt as Yami Bakura jumped up and started climbing, but Bakura paid him no heed as he reached the first scaffolding and pulled himself through.  
  
Yami Bakura just managed to join him, when there came the sound of a gun going off, followed by the sound of a bullet ricocheting. Bakura yelped as his yami grabbed him, practically covering him with his whole body as more bullets ricocheted off of the railing of the scaffolding. Six shots later, the bullets stopped, and the tomb robber pulled his hikari back up to feet, practically shoving him up the first flight of stairs before they had to duck down again.  
  
"Damn modern weapons," Yami Bakura muttered under his breath. "And I thought arrows were a pain in the ass…"  
  
Under less serious circumstances, Bakura may have laughed. "Just be glad he's a lousy shot."  
  
The bullets stopped again, only this time it was followed by shouting as the person that had been shooting started yelling at the thugs. The two of them did not stop to hear what they were shouting about. They scrambled up the stairs leading all the way up to the roof, Bakura in front with Yami Bakura helping him any time he got stuck. It was not until they were near the top that the bullets started up again, but they were so far out of range that their aims were miles off.  
  
Finally reaching the topmost scaffolding, Yami Bakura boosted Bakura up to grab the edge of the roof and climb up, before jumping up himself. The two of them tumbled onto the floor of the roof, breathing hard from the run up the stairs.  
  
"Um…" his yami began after a moment. "Ryou?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"This can be taken very wrongly, you know…"  
  
It took Bakura a moment to figure out what he was talking about. When he did, he turned beet red; he had landed on top of the tomb robber so that their bodies were pressed together evenly, especially down…  
  
Bakura practically turned into a blur as his scrambled off of his yami, his entire body blushing. The tomb robber sat up, trying and failing not to snigger at the absolutely embarrassed look on his hikari's face. He opened his mouth to humiliate him further, but did not get a chance as the sound of boots pounding on metal reached his ears.  
  
"Damn, they're following us," he snarled under his breath, grabbing Bakura by the arm and hauling him to his feet. The young man let out a squeak as his yami pulled him along quickly to the other side of the roof, where a low building stood just barely visible down below. Bakura panicked; he was not going to do… what he _thought _he was going to do… was he?  
  
"Bakura…"  
  
Yami Bakura did not even let him finish. The tomb robber put a hand over his eyes, forcing him to close them, before reaching down and slinging him over her shoulder. Bakura yelped in surprised, suddenly feeling like a rag doll.  
  
"Whatever you do, don't open your eyes."  
  
"Like I'm that stu—"  
  
Bakura's own screaming cut off him as he felt the two of them suddenly falling very far and very fast. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying to all the gods that were, are, and would be that they were not going to end up as a splatter on a sidewalk. Not a moment later, he felt himself being jostled as his yami landed on his feet on solid ground with just a slight grunt of effort. Yami Bakura set him down, but Bakura still clung to his arm, refusing to open his eyes.  
  
"Geeze, you have no confidence in me do you?" the tomb robber asked, the sarcasm practically oozing from his voice.  
  
"No, I have plenty of confidence in your abilities," Bakura replied, nodding emphatically. "Just not when I have to be around for them."  
  
Yami Bakura sighed. "Wuss."  
  
"Hai."  
  
Bakura did not have to have his eyes open to know his other self had a massive sweatdrop hovering over his forehead.  
  
"I need a hikari with a backbone," Yami Bakura teased. "Maybe I should ask the high priest if I could borrow his."  
  
Bakura finally opened his eyes at that, giving his yami a sour look. Yami Bakura just grinned down at him, before grabbing his arm and pulling him across the flat roof.  
  
"We should keep moving," he said. "The quicker we move, the more likely we'll loose them."  
  
Bakura nodded, struggling slightly to keep up with the tomb robber's rapid footsteps. "I'm not about to argue with that."  
  
They made it to the other side of the roof, just as they heard shouting coming from the building they had just leapt off of. The two of them quickly scanned that side of the building; there was no fire escape on the side they were on, only a slightly large drainpipe leading all the way down. Yami Bakura frowned, before leaning down slightly before his hikari.  
  
"Climb onto my back, and hold on," he ordered. "Just don't strangle me or I'll be forced to drop you."  
  
Bakura gulped, not sure if he was serious or not. "O-okay."  
  
He climbed onto the tomb robber's back as he was told, latching his arms around his yami's neck loosely and his legs around his waist. Yami Bakura stood up straight, adjusting his balance to the extra weight, before sitting down on the edge of the roof and slinging a leg over. Bakura squeezed his eyes shut again; afraid to look as his yami swung his other leg over, before slowly lowering himself so he could grab the drainpipe and start climbing down. The tomb robber grunted as he succeeded, before letting out a shout of surprise as the pipe swayed under their combined weight.  
  
"I don't think this thing's entirely stable…" Bakura whimpered, fighting against the urge to grab his yami tighter.  
  
"Now who's been watching too many American movies?" Yami Bakura quipped, moving down the unstable pipe as quickly as he dared.  
  
It seemed like an eternity before the tomb robber's feet finally encountered solid ground. Bakura nearly fell off his yami's back and kissed the pavement, so grateful was he to be off of the roof and the pipe. He barely even got a chance to sigh in relief, however. Yami Bakura shook him off, before grabbing him by the arm again and pulling him out of the alley they had ended up in.  
  
"'Kura, I don't think we're going to make it back home," Bakura pointed out.  
  
"Any ideas where to go, then?"  
  
Bakura bit his lip, thinking. "The Game Shop. Mutou Ojii-san always keeps a key hidden under the back door's mat. This way."  
  
Bakura took over the pulling; he grabbed his yami's arm and tugged him down the street and around the corner to where the turtle-shaped shop stood. They snuck around the shop, pushing their way though cardboard boxes that had been put out for garbage the next morning. Reaching the back door, Bakura pulled up the mat to reveal a small silver key sewn onto the bottom. Yami Bakura grabbed it and tore it off before his hikari could ask him to and rammed it into the lock and turned it. The door swung open easily, and the two of the scrambled inside, closing and locking it behind them.  
  
Yami Bakura sighed in relief, looking around at the dark and empty back entrance room. "Close one, ne?"  
  
When he did not get an answer, he turned to see that his hikari had leaned against the door, sliding down it until his knees were pressed against his chest. His eyes were squeezed shut, as if he were fighting back tears.  
  
"Why now…?" he muttered. "Everything was going so great… Why does this have to happen again now…?"  
  
"Ryou…"  
  
The tomb robber did not get a chance to finish, as suddenly the light snapped on, illuminating the room and blinding him for a brief moment.  
  
"What the bloody hell are you two doing here?"  
  
Yami Bakura turned to see a sleepy eyed Draco Malfoy standing on the foot of the stairs that led to the shop's living area. He was only dressed in a pair of dark green sweatpants, and his hair was mussed up, as he had obviously been sleeping merely a few minutes before. The tomb robber smirked slightly, rubbing the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.  
  
"Um… long story?"  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Yami Bakura found himself sitting in the kitchen of the Kame Game Shop a few minutes later, a steaming cup of tea sandwiched between his hands. Draco was sitting across the table, listening as he related everything that happened since Mr. Bakura had arrived back home. Bakura had gone off to take a much needed shower and go to bed – Draco had said he could use Yugi's bed, since he was off in Egypt.  
  
"So, a bunch of crackers come out of no where and start shooting at the two of you?" Draco asked once he was finished. "Just rosey. Who did you steal from this time?"  
  
The tomb robber growled in frustration. "The expression is 'just peachy', and, Ra dammit, I haven't stolen anything since school let out!"  
  
Draco just raised an eyebrow, invoking a groan out of the Egyptian spirit.  
  
"Anyway…" Yami Bakura continued, giving him a half-hearted death glare, "Ryou seemed to know who at least one of those goons were. I think it may have been that 'bad uncle' he mentioned."  
  
"Most likely," Draco agreed, serious. "I wonder what he wants with Ryou?"  
  
The tomb robber finished off the rest of his tea before standing up. "I don't know, but I'm not going to ask Ryou tonight. He needs sleep after this."  
  
Draco nodded. "Where are you going?"  
  
"Back to the house," Yami Bakura replied, a sour look on his face. "I need to see if that idiot father of his is okay."  
  
"Be careful!" Draco called after him as the tomb robber made his way out of the kitchen. He just waved his hand nonchalantly, brushing off his concern, before disappearing into the dark hallway.  
  
The young wizard bit his lip, more than just a little worried, wondering if Yami Bakura really knew how cruel modern day humans could be…  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Bakura dragged his feet as he left the bathroom, patting his hair dry with a towel. What was he going to do now? His uncle was on the loose again, and it was more than obvious that he was bound and determined to get his hands on him again. If that happened again… what happened the first time had been bad enough. Now, though… now he had so much more that was precious to him that he could loose…  
  
Somehow, he managed to shuffle across the hallway to Yugi's room. The normally bright and cheerful bedroom was a little bare, as his vertically challenged friend and pharaoh had taken most of his "necessary" belongings with him on his trip to Egypt. He plopped down on the bed, feeling more tired than he ever had in his life. He wanted to cry, to scream, to do _something._ He was just too numb from memories of the hurt and pain that he had gone through the first time…  
  
Sighing softly to himself, he padded over to Yugi's desk, looking through the messy drawers until he located a pen and a piece of paper.  
  
_Dear Amane,  
Sorry I'm not writing to you on  
our usual paper, but I'm at a  
friend's house. You see, our uncle is  
out of prison, and…  
_  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Yami Bakura eased the front door open to their house as gently as he could, a little unnerved over the fact that it was unlocked. Maybe that idiot father of his hikari's was not in the habit of locking doors, something he always made sure Bakura did. After all, he knew better than anyone how easy it would be for a thief to just go in and take things, and it would be a cold day in Khemet before someone stole his belongings.  
  
He shut the door softly, before sliding into the house with the grace of a cat, making his way along the walls until he reached the living room light switch. Testing it quickly proved that someone had cut the electricity, though it did not appear as if anyone had been in the house since they left.  
  
Swearing softly, the tomb robber slunk through the living room, keeping to the shadows as he made his way to the stairs leading up to the bedroom they shared. He made his way up, avoiding the parts of the steps that he knew squeaked when weight was put on them. Reaching the top, he immediately when to their room, only to find it totally ransacked. Clothes and other belongings were thrown everywhere, and Ryou's collector's shelf had been knocked down, scattering action figures all over. Talia was out of her cage, and _hoot_ed softly when she saw him, said cage lying near where Ryou's spell books were scattered.  
  
Yami Bakura frowned, leaning over where some of his personal belongings – most of it old jewelry he had stolen ages ago – had just been dumped on the ground. Whoever had done this, they were looking for something specific, and not just whatever valuables they could find. Had it been that uncle of Ryou's again, or was it someone else this time?  
  
He picked up one of his gold wristlets, hefting it in his hand a bit in thought, before setting it back down on the floor. There was no way around it; as much as he did not want to, he was going to have to ask his hikari about this. He knew it was probably going to hurt him, but he did not…  
  
Oh, _bah!_ When had he turned into such a thoughtful softy?  
  
Grumbling to himself, Yami Bakura made his way back downstairs, not as quiet as he was before. It was obvious that there was no one in the house itself, otherwise he would have run into trouble when he was distracted in the room. Once he got out of the house, he was going to go back to the Game Shop and demand to know what was going on, even if he had to wake him up to do it. He was about halfway through the living room when something alerted his sense.  
  
The front door was open.  
  
Before Yami Bakura could react, a hand holding a cloth that emitted a rather foul smell snaked its way over his face, covering his nose and mouth. The tomb robber fought against whoever it was, trying not to inhale whatever it was that the cloth was soaked in. He had already gotten a good whiff of it when it was put over his face, and that alone made him woozy; he did not want to find out what would happen if he actually breathed the stuff in.  
  
The man that was assaulting him grabbed him around the chest tightly, trying to force him to inhale. Yami Bakura just held his breath, angling his foot up toward the man's groin. The dull _clank_ he heard when it connected was _not_ music to his ears; he switched tactics and instead grounded the heal of his foot on the man's own, and was satisfied to hear a shout of pain.  
  
"Stupid kid," the man snapped. "Just breathe the shit in already."  
  
Yami Bakura just grounded his heal against the man's foot harder, even though his lungs were nearly burning for air. He did not want to breathe in whatever was on the cloth, but he _did_ need to breathe, or he would end up passing out anyway. Neither option was very beneficial on his behalf…  
  
Without warning, the man punched him hard in the stomach, knocking out what little air the tomb robber still had left in him. He inhaled out of reflex before he could stop himself, only to get a lungful of the noxious fumes emitting from the cloth. The room instantly started to spin, and he felt like he was going to be sick…  
  
The last thing Yami Bakura felt was his head hitting the ground as the man let go of him… before the world turned black around him… 


	3. From Bad to Worse to Worser

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family  
.  
.**  
[At the Angel Wings tree house, in Skyla's room; Skyla is lying on the bed face down, her head burried in her pillow.]  
  
Skyla: Good loooooooooord... this chapter KIIIIIIILLED me... Forgive me for not doing a Q&A this time, okay, minna-san? Oyasumi... ::snore::  
  
[Yami-neko looks up at Skyla from his bed on the floor, before holding up a little sign: Read, Enjoy, and then Review.]  
**.  
.  
.  
CHAPTER THREE – FROM BAD TO WORSE TO WORSER**  
  
Draco finished off the rest of his breakfast muffin as he made his way toward the bathroom, pausing a moment and staring at the slightly cracked open door leading to Yugi's room. There had been absolutely no word from Yami Bakura since he had left the house the night before and Draco was, understandably, worried sick. God only knew _what_ he encountered; if this "bad uncle" of Bakura's was after him… well, it was easy to mistake the hikari for the yami in dim light, and vice versa…  
  
Peeking inside Yugi's room to see if Bakura was still sleeping, Draco nodded to himself before heading into the bathroom to get ready for the day. He was bounding down the steps into the shop a few minutes later, his teeth freshly brushed and his slightly longer hair pulled back into a small ponytail. Sugoroku Mutou smiled warmly from his position behind the cash register, before getting up from the stool he was sitting on.  
  
"Draco-kun, could you open up the register while I sweep outside?" he asked.  
  
"Sure thing, Mutou Ojii-san," Draco agreed happily, gladly taking up his position on the stool. He never thought he would enjoy something like this, but working with muggle money fascinated him to no end.  
  
He had just finished counting out the register when the bells on the door rang. It had to be a customer – Grandpa Mutou could not finish sweeping _that_ fast.  
  
"Konichu—_whaaaaa!"  
_  
Draco fell off of his stool in surprise when he saw whom it was. Cold green eyes stared back down at him in contempt as the man tapped his cane against his open palm impatiently. His black robes swirled about as he slowly walked closer to the cash wrap, making Draco gulp in slight fear. He shook it off, however, and scrambling back up to his feet, giving the man a look of utmost loathing.  
  
"What the bloody hell are you doing here, _father?"_ he snapped, biting out the word like it was a curse.  
  
Lucius Malfoy glared down at him, not looking the least bit amused. "I'm here to take you back to England."  
  
Draco's eyebrow twitched. "I'd rather kiss a hippogriff than go anywhere with you."  
  
Before he could even blink, his father had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him up till his feet were a few inches from the ground. His wand fell out of his back pocket along with his deck, both of which clattered to the ground. Draco snarled angrily, trying to pry his father's hands off of his shirt.  
  
"I can't have you going around doing whatever you want and insulting the family name," Lucius replied coldly.  
  
Draco growled under his breath. "Bad enough I have a father that's a bloody Death Eater. You want to keep me under lock and key as well?"  
  
Lucius' lip twitched. "If your mother wasn't so against it, I'd kill you right here."  
  
"I'd rather that then have to look at your ugly face!"  
  
The dreadful look that his father gave him at that would have made Yami Bakura back away, or at least give him pause. Malfoy raised his cane threateningly, as if to strike him…  
  
_"Expelliarmus!"  
_  
Draco suddenly found himself plopped down roughly on the tile floor again as his father was pushed back, stumbling over his robes as he fought to regain his balance. Confused, Draco craned his head around to see Sugoroku standing in the door leading to the back entrance, the wand that had fallen out of his pocket clutched tightly in his hand. His mouth hung open in surprise as the old man came to stand before him.  
  
"M-Mutou Ojii-san…!" he began numbly.  
  
"Diajoubu, Draco-kun," the elderly man replied, tossing him a wink. "I may have flunked out of Hogwarts, but I remember the important stuff."  
  
Draco did not see what happened after that. One minute, Sugoroku was turning his focus back to Lucius, the next he was impacting against the far wall. He let out a shout of horror as the elderly man slumped to the ground, unconscious, before he turned to more immediate concerns; namely, his father. Pushing himself along on the floor, Draco slid back until his hand came to a rest on his scattered cards. He gritted his teeth; bloody hell, where was someone like Yami Bakura when you needed him?  
  
Malfoy raised his wand threateningly. "Enough of these silly games," he snarled. "Imperio!"  
  
Draco gritted his teeth as he was hit full on with the Imperius Curse, his vision blurring slightly as his father's voice filled his head, demanding him to get up. He fought against it as hard as he could, trying to recall everything he had learned from the false Professor Moody over the school year. His legs twitched in the effort, trying to stand up as he fought against it.  
  
"Damn you boy," his father snarled. "Get up!"  
  
"No…" Draco bit out through gritted teeth. "No! Bloody hell, leave me alone!"  
  
He dimly heard his father shout in surprise… and then the haziness that had clogged his vision and nearly clouded his mind was gone. Draco shook his head to clear it, before becoming aware of something glowing above him. Looking up, he widened his eyes in shock. Hovering above him, as if protecting him, was his Millennium Scale. He blinked several times, trying to determine if he was seeing things or not. Had he not… left that upstairs… in his room…?  
  
A shuffling sound took his focus away from the Item, and he looked down to see that his hand was still on top of his cards… his two fusion material cards, as a matter of fact…  
  
Draco scrambled back to his feet, cards in hand, as his father flung off his traveling cloak, the expression on his face positively murderous.  
  
"You've picked the loosing side, Draco," Malfoy intoned coldly, raising his wand as if he were going to make due on his earlier threat.  
  
"I was about to say the same to you," Draco returned, holding his two cards to his chest, before tossing them up in the air. "Marie the Fallen One! The Forgiving Maiden!"  
  
The cards glowed as he called out their names, before drifting down to settle in the Millennium Scales' baskets. Draco reached out and grabbed the main portion of the Item, keeping it held outstretched before him as his father took a hesitant step back.  
  
_"Fusion!"_  
  
Power from the two cards came off in waves, swirling about both Draco and his Item before gathering together around the Eye of the Wisdom of Darkness at the center of the Scale. A beam of light shot out, piercing through the real world and into the Shadow Realm, creating a vortex to that plane of existence. After a moment, _something_ descended from that realm… a woman with short brown hair and dressed in beautiful silver armor…  
  
"Saint Joan!"  
  
The monster reached over to her side, unsheathing a thin sword from the scabbard that hung at her hip as Malfoy took a_ massive_ step back, nearly bumping into a display shelf. It seemed he had gone from one extreme to the other; instead of looking imposing, his expression was downright terrified.  
  
"So… _this_ is why you're still alive," he bit out. "You've become a freak just like those Japanese boys."  
  
"No, not a freak, _father,"_ Draco returned. "I have a more important destiny now; much more important than as one of your pawns." He raised his other hand, pointing a condemning finger at him. "Saint Joan! Get this trash out of the store!"  
  
Saint Joan instantly responded to his command, launching herself toward Malfoy. Obviously determining that standing still would not be wise, he bolted out of the shop, the monster hot on his heels.  
  
Draco managed to stay standing for a few minutes, before his strength gave out and he fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He blinked rapidly, fighting against the urge to pass out. Had he… had he really just summoned a monster from the Shadow Realm? That was not just any monster, too; that was a _fusion_ monster. How…?  
  
"Draco-kun?!"  
  
Draco looked over his shoulder slightly to see Bakura standing at the foot of the stairs. The movement made his head swim however, making it that much more difficult to stay conscious. Bakura ran over and caught him before he could fall the rest of the way to the floor.  
  
"Draco-kun!" Bakura exclaimed. "What happened?"  
  
"I…" Draco began, sounding as exhausted as he felt. "I… summoned something… from the Shadow Realm…"  
  
The white-haired boy's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-what?! Why didn't you have my yami summon for you?"  
  
Draco bit his lip, giving him a regretful look. "He didn't come back…"  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
An incessant buzzing noise filled the sparsely yet richly decorated bedroom in the Kaiba Mansion, causing the large lump under the silk blue bed sheets to stir. There was a tired yawn, before a hand snaked out from under the covers, feeling around until it encountered the "off" button for the alarm clock. It depressed the button, falling limp over the side of the bed once its task was accomplished and pulling down the sheets slightly to expose a head of tousled brown hair and half opened, sleepy dark blue eyes. Seto Kaiba _humm_ed slightly, still half asleep. It was Saturday, he had the day off, and he could already tell that it was going to be a beautiful day. He buried his head back into his pillow; there was nothing wrong with a little sleeping in…  
  
_"Onii-sama!!!"_  
  
Seto jumped about a foot in the air straight off the bed, coming down again with a loud _thump._ He blinked, a bit dazed, before realizing that someone was giggling at his antics. Twisting his head around, he saw Mokuba sitting on the bed, after having jumped on it.  
  
"Aren't you a little old for this?" he mumbled.  
  
Mokuba grinned impishly. "I'm never too old to make fun of you, onii-sama."  
  
Seto cracked a humored smile. "You've been hanging around your other onii-sama too much…"  
  
He giggled again. "Who do you think talks me into this stuff?"  
  
Seto just raised an eyebrow… and that was the only warning his little brother got before the elder pounced on him, grabbing him in a headlock before giving him the worst nuggie in the world, mussing up his dark hair even more than it already was. Mokuba kicked and struggled, but was too busy laughing to make any kind of real effort to free himself. When Seto finally did let him go, his hair was beyond out of control, and doing a good impression of a certain tomb robber's bat-like hair.  
  
"Anyway," Mokuba began, trying to tame his hair. "I made breakfast. Mou hitori no onii-sama is already downstairs eating."  
  
He bounded out of the room, leaving his old brother to get ready for the day. Seto ended up following a few minutes later, dressed in his usual casual dress shirt, pants, and trench coat. He paused a moment to stretch, smirking slightly at the two doors across the way from him. After coming back from school that year, his other half had been set up in his own room in the mansion. Unfortunately, the spirit of the ancient high priest continually got lost, sometimes ending up on the total opposite side of the house from his room. To remedy this, Mokuba came up with the idea to put plaques on their doors… wooden plaques like the kind little kids would use.  
  
There was a little problem when it came to which name would be on which plaque. Mokuba's was easy of course, but when it came to the yami and hikari there was a bit of a discrepancy, as they both had the same name. Seto first suggested that maybe his other half should change his name to "Seth" to save on confusion. That suggestion only got him the death glare from Hell in return. Eventually, they settled with putting a little Millennium Item symbol underneath the high priest's name on his plaque.  
  
For a while, everything was good… until Mokuba realized that Noah's room was going to need a plaque as well. That was simple… when Fleur called and said that she was definitely coming over that summer, that's when things got complicated. Not that making a plaque for the room she would be staying in was very hard, but somehow, strangely, that plaque always ended up hanging from _his_ door in addition to his own…  
  
Walking down the hallway, Seto soon ended up at the flight of stairs that would take him downstairs. He paused a moment, looking both ways down the hallway and making sure no one was in the vicinity downstairs to see him, before hopping onto the rail and sliding all the way down. He jumped off before he hit the potted plant at the end, straightening out his trench coat before walking off as if it never happened.  
  
He was just outside the kitchen door when the bell rang. Grumbling over the fact that the house staff had the day off as well, Seto backtracked to the front foyer. The doorbell rang again twice before he was able to get there, shouting that he could hear the person just fine.  
  
When he opened the door, however, he was in for a bit of a surprise. Although he did not recognize the woman on the other side, he could tell this was not going to be a pleasant first meeting just by the way she held herself and the papers under her arm.  
  
"Kaiba-san," she said stiffly, getting Seto to raise an eyebrow at her rudeness, "I'm with the social services department, and we need to talk."  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Yami Seto patted his stomach, giving Mokuba a burp of appreciation for the meal as he left the kitchen. He did not care what his hikari said, that little kid could _cook._ Though… now that he thought about it, Mokuba was not a little kid anymore. He was nearly sixteen now, as old as his hikari was when he took up the Millennium Rod – finally – and was growing up into a fine young man. It was a shame that him and Seto could not be around more often for him; he would have loved to see him grow up. Though, of course, that's what made the summers they had together all the more –  
  
The priest's thoughts were cut short when he heard the front door slam. He had heard it when the doorbell stopped before, and assumed that his hikari had answered it. If whoever it was that had been at the door had pissed his hikari off enough to possibly break something in his very large – and very expensive – house then…  
  
Uh-oh…  
  
Yami Seto hastened his steps, quickly making his way to the front foyer. As expected, his hikari was still at the door, his fists balled up tightly, one of them crushing a collection of papers.  
  
"Hikari…" he began cautiously, so as not to set him off. "What happened…?"  
  
Silence reigned for a long moment, with the hand that was holding the papers shaking the whole time.  
  
"That was social services," Seto bit out finally. "Turns out my aunt and uncle found out about my schooling in England. They've declared me an unfit caretaker, and are filing for custody of Mokuba."  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
When he passed out in the first place was beyond him, but when Draco awoke again, he found himself staring up at the ceiling of his room – what had once been an unused study in the Mutou house. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, fighting against the wave of dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him again. Pausing a moment to let his head settle, he sat up a few seconds later, somehow managing to do it without passing out. There was the feeling of weight near the end of the bed, and he looked up slightly to see that Bakura had rested his elbows there, leaning over from where he was sitting to do so.  
  
"How are you feeling?" he asked.  
  
Draco opened his mouth to answer, but all that came out was a groan as another wave of dizziness came out of nowhere.  
  
"That good, hunh?" Bakura quipped, chuckling slightly as he helped him lay back down. He gazed up at his white-haired friend, frowning slightly.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
Bakura's face scrunched up in thought. "You summoned something from the Shadow Realm. I think because it was such an advanced monster, and because you've never done anything like that before… that's why it's affected you so badly."  
  
Draco sighed tiredly, closing his eyes. Just great; his father shows up out of nowhere, and he ends up summoning one of his favorite monsters… _without_ the use of a Duel Disk. What next…?  
  
"Draco-kun… where did Bakura go?"  
  
He just _had_ to ask…  
  
"He said he was going back to your house," Draco replied, opening his eyes again. "He said he wanted to make sure your father was okay."  
  
The fearful and worried look that had clouded over Bakura's features forced himself to sit up in be again.  
  
"And… he hasn't come back…?" Bakura asked in a small voice.  
  
Draco reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he's all right. It'll be a cold day in hell before someone gets a drop on that tomb robber… eh?"  
  
Bakura did not look convinced, however. After a moment of nearly wringing out the bed sheets, the older boy stood up, a determined look on his face.  
  
"Gomen, Draco-kun, but I just know he's in trouble," he stated. "I'm going to Marik's place. Stay here."  
  
Draco nearly panicked, scrambling to get to his feet, only to have another wave of dizziness put him back on his back. He groaned in pain, muttering under his breath, before taking a look around the room. Spotting the Millennium Scale resting on the nightstand next to his bed, he forced himself to get back to his feet before grabbing the Item and stuffing it in his back.  
  
"Wait, Bakura!" he called, forcing his body to cooperate with him as he followed the older boy out the door. "You're not going alone!"  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
The first thing he became aware of was the steady _drip, drip, drip_ of water coming from somewhere in the distance. Next was the fact that his shoulder was killing him, as if someone had tried to rip it out of the socket. Not being able to move his arms and legs were the next things he realized, and that he was sitting on a hard wooden chair quickly followed that. Lastly was the wave of nausea that threatened to send him back into unconsciousness when he opened his eyes. He fought it down though – he had felt worse, after all – opening his eyes all the way.  
  
The room he found himself staring at was dark, dank, and dingy. Only a few patches of light shone in from the ruined roof overhead, one of which he was centered in. It was obvious that it had not been used for a very long time before now, especially considering the smell. There was a faint roaring sound coming from outside, and he assumed that he had to be near an ocean. Looking down slightly, he was able to confirm why he could not move his legs: they were tied to the chair he was sitting in, and he could only assume that his hands were bound as well.  
  
All in all; this situation did not look good for Yami Bakura.  
  
The tomb robber leaned back in the chair he was sitting on, testing the rope that was keeping his hands restricted. It was tied fairly tight, but still was not anything he could not handle. He was about to start on it, when the sound of someone chuckling reached his ears.  
  
"Who's there?" he demanded, sitting up in the chair as he looked around.  
  
As if in answer, a man stepped into one of the patches of light before him. He was not very tall, at least, he could not have been any taller than Yami Bakura himself. Graying brown hair poked out from underneath an old fedora. A cigar was clenched in his yellowed teeth, and an ugly scar glared out, starting from just below his left eye, and running down his face and across his neck before it disappeared in his shirt. The man took the cigar from his teeth, flicking the ashes at the tomb robber before replacing it.  
  
"So nice to see you again," he sneered, "my dear, dear nephew, Ryou…" 


	4. Hunting and Circumstances

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family  
.  
.**  
[Skyla's room at the Angel Wings treehouse; Skyla is just sitting in her chair, twitching slightly. Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura are standing behind her, reading over her shoulder. Both of them have sheepish expressions on their faces.]  
  
Y.Yugi: I... don't believe this.  
  
Y.Bakura: People really ARE that stupid...  
  
Y.Yugi: ::pokes Skyla:: You going to be okay...?  
  
[Skyla suddenly stands up, slamming her fists down on her computer desk.]  
  
Skyla: _RYUU HIKARI IS OFFICIALLY ON MY SHIT LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_  
  
[Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura back _FAR_ away from Skyla.]  
  
Y.Bakura: Scary...!  
  
Y.Yugi: I think we better do the Q&A this time, tomb robber...  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
--Yami Yami Yugi--  
Y.Yugi: Well... she could kill someone off?  
  
Y.Bakura: Don't give Skyla ideas, pharaoh...  
  
--Evergladelord--  
Y.Bakura: Oh, I tell him all right... ::evil snigger::  
  
Y.Yugi: ::sweatdrops::  
  
--Ryuu hikari--  
Y.Bakura: ::glares:: Be grateful WE'RE doing the Q&A...  
  
Y.Yugi: Seriously. Was it _REALLY_ necessary for you to review all of the YGO/HP Crossover, just to tell Skyla that my real name is Atemu in _EVERY SINGLE REVIEW?_ Low class simpleton...  
  
Y.Bakura: Look at the date these stories were started. Look at when his highness-ness's name was released. Do the math.  
  
Both: Jerk.  
  
--TypoNumber5-  
Y.Yugi: -- No, "worser" is not a word...  
  
--Millennium Dreamer-  
Y.Bakura: Yeah, my hikari's grown up quite a bit. He's still a wuss though. ::sighs::  
  
Y.Yugi: ::sweatdrops::  
  
--A Neo Okami named Wolfy-  
Y.Bakura: Question #1: Saiyaman  
  
Y.Yugi: Question #2: Download YVD. Use Google to find it.  
  
Both: Question #3: A meshing of our decks.  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Y.Yugi: That's it for now... hopefully Skyla will stop thinking murderous thoughts long enough to update some of her other stories...  
  
Skyla: ::glares:: You're pushing it, pharaoh...  
  
Y.Yugi: ::sheepish look::  
  
Y.Bakura: ::sighs:: Read, enjoy, and then review... except Ryuuhikari. You're shit listed.  
**.  
.  
.  
CHAPTER FOUR - HUNTING AND CIRCUMSTANCES  
**  
Draco pounded down the Domino City streets after Bakura, his backpack with his deck, Duel Disk, and Millennium Scale inside thumping painfully against his back. He was gasping for air by the time they reached the street that Marik lived on, while the older teen was not even breathing hard. Draco wondered briefly if he was working out with the tomb robber or something as they both ran up the steps leading to the small porch on the house Marik and his sister lived in. Bakura stabbed the doorbell with a finger, shifting on his feet restlessly until Isis opened the door.  
  
"Bakura, Draco, what brings you here so early?" she asked, looking between the two of them, slightly surprised.  
  
"Isis-san, my yami is in a lot of trouble," Bakura answered, his voice slightly panicked.  
  
Isis just gave him an, "I'm supposed to be surprised?" look.  
  
"No, real trouble," Draco cut in before Bakura could get hysterical. "He went out last night, and he hasn't come back since. We need Marik and the Ring to try and find him; is he in?"  
  
Isis sighed tiredly, rolling her eyes. "Oh, he's in all right. He stayed up all night writing letters to his girlfriend and hasn't woken up yet."  
  
Both Bakura and Draco sweatdropped. "What's the word, Bakura?" the latter asked dully. "Otaku?"  
  
Bakura just sighed.  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Seto tapped his left foot impatiently as he waited at the red light, willing the light to change to a more favorable color with his glare, revving the engine of his convertible for good measure. The day _had _started out with him in a good mood, but the crap going on with social services and his only living relatives had turned it sour _very_ fast.  
  
He supposed he should have seen it coming. Apparently, since their foster father died, his aunt and uncle had all the rights in the world to lay claim on them, despite the boys' social standing and despite abandoning them in the past. Obviously, their right to Seto himself had stopped when he turned eighteen; but Mokuba was only going to be sixteen in a matter of days, and could still be taken away.  
  
Seto grit his teeth at the memory of the brief discussion he had with the social services worker. Damn law loopholes... There were very few things he really, truly cared about: his company, his brother, his Blue Eyes White Dragons, his yami (though he would never admit _that_ out loud), and his girlfriend. If anyone laid a finger on either of those, they were signing their own death certificate. Hence, why they were in the car waiting at a traffic light he could have sworn was painted permanently red. He was taking his little brother up to their private mountain retreat to hide out for a few days, because if his aunt and uncle decided to stop in and gloat, and one of them touched Mokuba, he _would_ kill them.  
  
The irritating light finally turned green, and Seto drove off, resisting the urge to floor it so he could get his little brother away that much faster. He was not paying attention to much outside of driving, thankfully his yami sitting shotgun next to him was, otherwise he would have missed Bakura and Draco dragging a still half asleep Marik down the sidewalk. He pulled the car over to the side before the priest could prod him (his fingers were poised to do so...), and put the vehicle in park near the three of them.  
  
"What are you people doing?" he asked, smirking a bit to take the sting out of his words.  
  
"What's it look like?" Draco replied sourly, giving Marik a push from behind, only to make the Egyptian fall to the sidewalk with a _thud._ Seto and Yami Seto sweatdropped as Mokuba sniggered.  
  
Bakura, however, ignored his antics. He went up to the car, resting his hands on top of the driver's side door.  
  
"Seto-kun, can you give us a ride?" he asked. "Something's happened to my yami."  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow as the high priest snorted. "Are you sure the tomb robber's not being... well... tomb robber-ish?" he replied, sweatdropping as his hikari shot him a disapproving look.  
  
"Did you try contacting him?" Seto asked, turning his focus back to Bakura.  
  
The white haired boy blinked a few times slowly.  
  
"Didn't think of that, hunh?"  
  
"Uh... nope."  
  
Seto face palmed in exasperation, trying to ignore the fact that his little brother was all but rolling on the floor in laughter. Bakura gave the occupants of the car a sheepish look, before standing back slightly, his eyes acquiring a far away look to them as he sent out a call to his other half...  
  
_'Kura...?_  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Yami Bakura yowled in pain as his hikari's uncle slammed a heated rod against his arm, not only burning the skin but breaking bone as well. He bit his lip, his breathing picking up as he mentally swore at both his torturer and at fate. Bakura's uncle had already stabbed him several times with his own switchblade he had had hidden in his shoe, failing to notice that he had not started bleeding. Apparently, he was not corporeal enough to _bleed_ but he was alive enough to have his _bone broken._ Yeah, that made sense.  
  
"Oh, Ryou... Ryou, Ryou..." Bakura's uncle said casually. "Whatever am I going to do with you...?"  
  
The tomb robber glared. "Letting me go would be a good start..."  
  
_'Kura...?  
_  
Whatever the demented uncle said next Yami Bakura missed entirely, as he was caught off guard by the mental call from his hikari.  
  
_Ryou...?  
_  
There came a mental sigh of relief. _You're okay!  
_  
_More or less,_ the tomb robber replied, wincing slightly.  
  
_Where are you?  
_  
Yami Bakura frowned mentally. _Near the ocean, probably at the docks or something. Get here quick, okay? I don't play the role of sweet little innocent Japanese boy very well when I'm pissed off.  
_  
Bakura mentally sweatdropped, but he missed it as his face was grabbed roughly, breaking him away from the mental conversation. His hikari's uncle had a tight hold on his chin, glaring down at him disapprovingly. Yami Bakura just glared back up at him, not even bothering to at least pretend he was his hikari. This guy had pissed him off too much already...  
  
The uncle smirked. "Now, now, Ryou. No need to mess up such a beautiful face with such an ugly look," he sneered.  
  
"I'd say the same to you, but you already look like the ass-end of a camel without an ugly look," the tomb robber replied smoothly, giving him the best glare he could muster.  
  
He caught a sense of panic coming from his hikari as the uncle's expression suddenly turned very dark, his lip twitching up into a murderous snarl.  
  
"That wasn't very nice, Ryou..." he said, raising the heated rod again. "It appears I'm going to have to teach you some _manners...!"  
_  
-.oOOo.-  
  
One moment, Bakura was absolutely fine, obviously talking to his other self and making sure the five thousand year old tomb robber was okay. The next minute he let out a blood curdling scream loud enough to even wake Marik up, his hands covering his face in pain. Marik and Draco went over to him, trying to pry his hands away to make sure he was all right. When they finally did, a long, red burn mark that was slowly vanishing was revealed on Bakura's face.  
  
"Holy _shit!"_ Yami Seto exclaimed, panicking, practically jumping out of his seat in the car and rushing over to him.  
  
"My yami has such a big mouth..." Bakura uttered softly, fighting back tears of pain.  
  
"Get him in the car," Seto ordered the others, revving the engine as if he were a slave driver snapping a whip. "Now."  
  
Marik, Yami Seto, and Draco helped the white haired boy, all three of them giving Seto an annoyed look only to receive an equally annoyed look back. Mokuba scooted over into his seat as Bakura was guided in next to him, having to move further back as Marik and Draco crushed themselves in as well. The high priest just managed to jump back into the front passenger seat as his hikari shifted the car back into drive, heading off down the street as fast as he legally could.  
  
"Marik-kun, give me directions," he ordered. "Bakura-kun, tell me about this uncle of yours."  
  
Marik held up the Millennium Ring from around his neck and Draco frowned at the back of Seto's head bitterly.  
  
"He's got a bloody _burn mark_ on his face, Seto!" the young wizard protested.  
  
Seto looked up in the rearview mirror, making sure Draco could see the glare that was directed towards him, before stating, "I'm not risking my or anyone else's life without knowing what the hell we're getting into. Bakura-kun, I know you're hurting, but the more we know, the more we'll be prepared."  
  
A long moment passed, only interrupted as Marik told Seto to turn left, before Bakura nodded. The burn mark on his face had lightened slightly, but it was still red and sore looking. He fingered it, wincing, before starting to explain.  
  
"My uncle, Kyle, is one of the few relatives I have from outside of Japan," he began. "He was born in America, but raised in England, and is a very old fashioned explorer. Like... Indiana Jones kind of old fashioned explorer... only he's the bad guy. He does anything to get his hands on priceless treasures, and sells them off on the black market for huge profits."  
  
Bakura quieted for a moment, before continuing, Marik still giving Seto the directions from the Ring in the background:  
  
"A few months before my mother died, her and a team supposedly found an ancient burial site that contained a scepter of sorts. It's supposed to be very valuable; it's silver and jewel encrusted, and has the power of miracles. While holding it, one of the members of the team wished that the writing on the walls of the area it was found in was legible... and all of a sudden the room was restored to how it was thousands of years ago."  
  
Yami Seto whistled. "Wouldn't've minded something like that back then."  
  
Bakura gave the back of his head a look. "Funny, 'cause supposedly it belonged to a nameless pharaoh we all know and love."  
  
The look on Yami Seto's face was priceless. "Eh!? Why didn't you say anything before?"  
  
Bakura's look turned sour. "It's because of that damn scepter that my sister died."  
  
The high priest got _very_ quiet...  
  
"My mother hid the scepter; she knew how Uncle Kyle was, and knew he'd do anything to get his hands on it," he continued. "When she died, she left my father instructions on how to get to it. My uncle found out, and kidnapped Amane and me while we were playing in the backyard one day. He was going to use us as hostages... but..."  
  
Bakura's voice trailed off. He looked down at his hands. "He used a little too much chloroform... I woke up... she didn't..."  
  
A silence so profound fell over the people in the car, Marik almost forgot to tell Seto to turn right. Bakura swiped at his eyes before finishing up his story.  
  
"I flipped out," he admitted. "I grabbed a pipe and attacked my uncle with it; bloodied up his face really bad. That was when the police showed up. Our babysitter had called them... father was out of the country... as usual... He came back for the funeral though... and recently to tell me that Uncle Kyle broke out of prison."  
  
Seto had a dark look on his face as he turned left on Marik's instructions, the docks slowly getting closer before them. He pursed his lips, hands tightening around the steering wheel. It was not fair... why could they not just have a normal summer? Bad enough their lives were hectic during school; did they really have to go through this torture on their breaks too?  
  
"Mokuba, grab the box under your seat," he ordered.  
  
Mokuba shot him an understanding look. "Hai, onii-sama," he said, before reaching under and pulling out a small, tin lockbox from under his seat. Draco stared at it, curious.  
  
"What's in there?" he asked.  
  
Mokuba patted the box, a grim expression on his face. "Gonzaboru insurance."  
  
-.oOOo.-  
  
Yami Bakura took a shuddering breath, feeling like he was dying again. His entire body ached from the various stab wounds and burn marks his hikari's uncle had inflicted. Still, though, he was not bleeding, and the insane man was finally starting to notice this. He paused his assault, sneering down at the tomb robber, before grabbing a handful of his hair and pulling his head back.  
  
"Just what exactly _are_ you, boy?" he demanded.  
  
A sadistic smirk worked its way onto Yami Bakura's burned face... before his leg came up, impacting on the uncle's protecting groin. He backpedaled, caught off guard, and the tomb robber took that opportunity to use the fist attached to his good arm to sock him in the face. The uncle went flying back, skidding to a halt on his rear in one of the pools of light as the tomb robber stood up.  
  
"Obviously, not Ryou, camel-ass face," he replied, holding up the rope that he had been tied down with. "And, word of advice, you moron: you don't loop the rope around a person's feet and then tie their hands with it. That's just plain idiotic."  
  
The uncle snarled, pulling out a gun from his back pocket. Yami Bakura moved to dodge the impending bullet, not wanting to risk taking such an injury to anything vital, only to have his legs give out on him. He stumbled, before falling face first just as the deranged man fired, missing his head by inches. The tomb robber tried to get up before he could take another shot, but his legs refused to cooperate with him, stabs of pain shooting through his body every time he tried to move.  
  
Suddenly, a foot came down on his shoulder, forcing him to the ground again. Yami Bakura heard a click, like the cylinder of a gun being rotated, and he did not have to look up to know that the gun that owned that click was being pointed at the back of his head.  
  
"If you're not Ryou, you have no use to me," he stated simply. "Oyasumi..."  
  
Yami Bakura winced; Ra dammit all... _Gods, Ryou, I'm sorry...  
_  
_"BAKURA!"  
_  
Two gunshots rang out the next instant, making the tomb robber flinch with each shot. It took him a moment to realize that he was not dead again, nor was he in pain. Or rather, _more_ pain than he was already in, anyway...  
  
"Gravekeeper's Assassin! Hold him down!"  
  
The foot on his shoulder suddenly disappeared, and Yami Bakura looked up weakly to see the cloaked form of the Gravekeeper's Assassin holding onto his hikari's uncle from behind, the monster's curved knife at the man's throat. The gun he had been using had skittered off somewhere in the darkness, and a slight trickle of blood was making its way down his sleeve. Seto was standing a ways away, his arm outstretched, still holding the small pistol he had used. The tomb robber used his arms to push himself away from the chaotic scene, just as Bakura ran over to his side to help him stand up.  
  
"Ryou!?" the uncle exclaimed, looking between the two of them, incredulous.  
  
"Uncle Kyle, please!" Bakura pleaded, holding onto his yami tightly. "Leave me and my friends alone. What you want has nothing to do with me!"  
  
Kyle just laughed sadistically. "It has everything to do with you Ryou. And now that you're here, I have the perfect tool to get what's rightfully mine."  
  
He tried to move toward Bakura, but the Gravekeeper's Assassin pressed its knife closer to his throat in warning.  
  
"Phft... yeah, like we're letting you go anywhere," Marik commented, rolling his eyes as Yami Seto started making his way toward the Bakuras to help.  
  
Kyle snarled in response. "Just you wait. When I get the power of the Nameless Pharaoh, you'll be the first ones to die."  
  
The high priest tossed him a sour look over his shoulder. "I think you're several figs short of a basket," he said, before leaning down and scooping Yami Bakura into his arms, drawing a yelp out of the tomb robber as he did so. He turned around to glare at Kyle. "We're leaving now. If you're lucky, you'll still be in one piece when we do."  
  
With that, the high priest turned on his heal and stormed out, Bakura following right behind him, occasionally taking furtive glances back at his uncle. Seto followed after a moment, flicking on the safety on the gun before slipping it into his trench coat. Marik was the last to head out, making sure Gravekeeper's Assassin would stay summoned until they were well enough away before following.  
  
Yami Seto stalked off to the car where Draco and Mokuba were waiting anxiously. He slid into the front passenger seat, still holding onto Yami Bakura. The tomb robber yelped softly as he was jostled about, glaring up at the priest.  
  
"Watch the arm at least, hunh?" he said, a bit of a pout on his face.  
  
Yami Seto raised an eyebrow at his expression as the others piled into the car. "What's wrong with it?"  
  
"'S broken."  
  
"Broken?!" the priest exclaimed as Seto started up the car again. "How the hell can your arm be _broken?"  
_  
Yami Bakura just shot him a sour look as they started to drive off. He did not... _feel_ right, and was not about to argue with the ditzy high priest and remind him how having broken limbs was a possibility. He rested his head wearily against the other spirit's chest, fighting against the urge to close his eyes...  
  
"Hey, tomb robber...?" Yami Seto began, raising an eyebrow... before looking down. "Holy _SHIT!!!"  
_  
"What's wrong?" Marik asked, sitting up slightly to look over the front seat... "Holy shit is right! Seto, step on it!"  
  
Seto glanced over at the tomb robber... and ended up putting his foot down a bit harder on the gas pedal in response. Blood, real _blood,_ was literally pouring out of the various stab wounds Yami Bakura had sustained, dying his clothes a hideous dark red. He took a sharp turn, throwing everyone back into their seats, speeding away from the docks as fast as he dared.  
  
Bakura just sat in his seat, stunned, trying to reach out to his other self mentally and only getting a dull, static-like sound in response. He balled up his hands, closing his eyes tightly as he retreated to the Soul Corridor of his mind, only to see a horrifying sight.  
  
The Door that led to Yami Bakura's Room was shut tight, and it was cracked and bleeding...  
  
Bakura flung himself at the Door without a second thought, his fingers prying at it desperately, trying to get it open. The blood only seemed to ooze out faster, covering his hands and front in a sticky mess as he tried everything he could think of...  
  
_'Kura... please... please don't die on me...!  
_  
He leaned back and rammed his shoulder against the Door... once... twice... On the third try the Door sprang open, a light that was not supposed to be on the other side blinding him...  
  
All of a sudden, he was back in the real world, his eyes flinging open as a pain he had never felt before in his entire life flooded his consciousness. Bakura screamed silently, tears streaming down his face as he felt burns appearing on his skin and deep cuts slicing themselves into his skin all over his body. He heard his friends shouting, telling him to hold on... but the pain... gods, the pain...  
  
_Ryou...  
  
Ryou...?  
  
RYOU!!!_


	5. Slowly Fade to Black

Bleh! I know this has been a long time in coming, and I'm sorry. I really don't have an excuse other than I've been busy with life (and believe me, life really sucks right now). Thanks to all of those who've been patiently waiting for this to be updated. And for those of you who weren't patient, especially the pleasent person who left such a "nice" review on my new one shot, "Proud of Your Boy" (who, BTW, is shitlisted because of that rude comment)... well, I don't know. You can just bite me. Just because you tell me to update and update, doesn't mean I will. Yes, I may write good stories, but I have a life too, you know.

Anyway, without further delay, here's chapter five. As always, read, enjoy, and then review.

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family**

**CHAPTER FIVE – SLOWLY FADE TO BLACK**  
  
The pyramids… the final resting place of ancient rulers long since forgotten in the sands of time. Such magnificent structures stood proud against the late afternoon sun, starting to cast their gargantuan shadows over the sands again. The only sound that came was the soft blow of the wind as it traveled its way through the sands, a hollow melody from it…  
  
…and then a cell phone went off.  
  
From atop his camel, Yami Yugi sweatdropped, holding onto the reigns a bit tighter so the mellow animal would not get spooked.  
  
"Yugi, I thought I told you to turn that thing off while we were out here…" he said cautiously as their tour guide just ahead of them turned to glare.  
  
Yugi laughed nervously as her pulled his cell phone out. "I thought I did…" he replied, flipping it open and hitting the accept button before putting it to his ear. "Mushi, mushi?"  
  
Marik's voice came over the cell phone, slightly garbled from the distance. "Oy, Yugi! Glad I could… ontact you."  
  
Yugi blinked. "Barely contact me…" he grumbled. "What's going on?"  
  
"Well…"

.oOOo.

"…Ryou's kinda in the hospital with stab wounds and several hundred broken bones that were inflicted on his other self while they were two separate people."  
  
There was a long stretch of silence as the Egyptian waited for the lag and Yugi to catch up with him, before…  
  
_"Do WHAT?!"_  
  
Marik winced, holding the phone away from his ear and drawing stares from the few other people in the hospital lobby. He shot everyone an apologetic look before turning his back to them, holding the phone a little closer to his mouth. Leaning against the small public phone case, he proceeded to explain to Yugi everything that had happened since he had woken up that morning, from Ryou explaining about his Uncle Kyle to rushing the white-haired boy to the hospital before he bled to death. There was a long stretch of silence afterwards, and it was not only because of the lag.  
  
"Is… is he… kay?" Yugi's garbled voice came over the phone.  
  
"The doctor said it looked good," Marik replied. "Though, it was really scary, Yugi-kun. All of a sudden Bakura disappeared and Ryou's skin starting splitting. It was like… a really bad horror movie. I figured I'd call you and let you know, and see if you were having any trouble on your vacation."  
  
A pause… "…Ang on…"  
  
There was another long pause, before the pharaoh's voice came out the phone. "…Arik-kun, we've been having t… eath eaters… summer."  
  
Marik frowned, trying to decipher what he said. "Death Eaters?" he asked. "What are they doing in Egypt?"  
  
"I… eath…"  
  
Marik frowned, mentally swearing at the technology. "Look, pharaoh, if you can hear me," he began, "call Seto's cell phone when you get back to your hotel. I'm going to be hanging out with him for the rest of the night."  
  
He hung up after that, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning around…  
  
Only to bump into Yami Bakura's chest.  
  
Marik jumped back several feet, letting out a yelp of surprise. The tomb robber raised an amused eyebrow, a slight smirk quirking his lips up.  
  
"Ra dammit all, tomb robber!" he shouted… before seeing the slightly dead look in his eyes. Marik eased up a bit, taking a step forward. "You going to be okay? What the heck happened?"  
  
Yami Bakura slipped his hands into his pants pockets, a solemn look on his face. "I hurt my hikari, Marik… I was watching the healers as they worked on him… cutting him open, setting bones, stitching him up… It was…" The tomb robber shuddered, pulling his hands out of his pockets to rub his arms. "It's all my fault, too…"  
  
Marik blinked several times, a little freaked out to see the tomb robber so… regretful like this. He reached out a hand before he could stop himself, gripping his shoulder.  
  
"Hey, c'mon, tomb robber," he said. "Snap out of it. Ryou's gonna be okay."  
  
The high priest took that moment to pop up, leaning on the phone and hovering over the tomb robber.  
  
"Hey, you're back," he said, a bit of a smile on his face.  
  
Yami Bakura nodded solemnly, before wincing slightly. "I need food."  
  
Marik pointed behind him. "There's a vending machine…"  
  
The tomb robber made a face. "I need _real_ food."  
  
"Well, there's a cafeteria…" Yami Seto suggested.  
  
"I'd prefer it if my food didn't bounce," he replied, making a sound of disgust.  
  
Marik laughed as the Kaiba brothers rounded the corner at a semi-rushed pace. Seto had a bit of a… panicked look; that was the best way to describe the expression on his face. Mokuba was taking glances up at him every so often, looking like he was trying not to crack up.  
  
"We've got a bit of a problem," the elder brother announced, acknowledging Yami Bakura's presence with a nod once they came to a stop.  
  
"Now what?" Marik asked, as Seto fidgeted slightly.  
  
He fidgeted more, before he found the voice to respond. "Fleur's… plane, showed up earlier than anticipated," he answered delicately. That only got amused expressions out of the other three boys, as Draco walked up from behind Yami Seto.  
  
"You mean you forgot," Yami Bakura replied, blunt as ever.  
  
"I did _not_ forget!" Seto responded hotly. Mokuba had to hold a hand over his mouth at that to stop himself from busting a gut laughing. Marik did not bother; he let out a bark of laughter that quickly died down to an amused grin, courtesy of a death glare from the elder Kaiba.  
  
"Look, so basically we're going to have to split up, right?" Marik asked, before pointing to Seto. "I need to stick with you. Wherever Yugi and Panseru were, they couldn't get a good reception. So, I told them to call me back on your cell phone."  
  
Seto gave him a sour look. "Get your own cell phone."  
  
Marik smirked. "I'm not a filthy rich bastard."  
  
Seto glared. Mokuba giggled. All other parties involved rolled their eyes.  
  
"Anyway," Yami Seto began before his hikari could blow his top. "I guess I should take Draco home. Mutou Ojii-san and Yugi's mom are probably worried sick."  
  
"And when were you going to ask me my opinion on this?" Draco spoke up suddenly, nearly causing the high priest to jump out of his skin. The young wizard just raised an eyebrow before continuing, "I'm not just going to let you guys leave me at the Game Shop, wearing a rut in the floor, worrying about what you are doing. I'm sticking around… but I guess I'll need a change of clothes."  
  
The high priest sighed in exasperation, but he was not about to argue the point, nor did it look like anyone else would either.  
  
"I guess that means I'll stay here with Yami Bakura-kun," Mokuba said, going over to stand by the tomb robber's side. He just smirked.  
  
"Oh, yeah, it'll be great, kid," he said, looking over to Seto with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'll teach you how to duel properly while we watch over Ryou."  
  
"You are _not_ teaching my little brother how to duel!" both Setos said at the same time, before turning to one another accusingly, as if it were an insult that they did that. Everyone else just burst out laughing; drawing strange looks from the other people in the lobby.

.oOOo.

Yami Seto grumbled as he walked down the darkened streets of Domino City, Draco right next to him, somehow able to keep up with his long strides. Of course, since the house staff had the day off, and they only had one car at their disposal, he was the one stuck walking while his light half went off to pick his – well, technically _their_ – girlfriend up from the airport. It was not that the Kame Game Shop was far from the hospital, not it the least; it was just the mere fact that he had to walk. Maybe he should learn how to drive one of those "car" things. It did not look that hard…  
  
He was brought out of his deep musing by Draco, who had grabbed his arm to prevent him from colliding headlong with the signpost he had been heading toward. The priest sweatdropped, embarrassed, turning a grateful look to the boy.  
  
"That would have hurt…" he said.  
  
"No kidding," Draco returned dryly as they turned down an empty alleyway. "Loose your head in thought much?"  
  
"Nah…" Yami Seto replied. "It's just… well… sometimes I think about what I have to do to start adapting more to this new life I have… and… well, it's just so overwhelming."  
  
"I'm not about to argue with that," Draco consented, stuffing his hands in his pockets, mindful of the bag stuffed with his Duel Disk and the Millennium Scale on his back. "I… never thought my life would change this much… I always thought… I would just end up living up to my family name… and… I was proud of that. Now… now it just makes me sick the way I used to think."  
  
The two of them stopped midway down the alley, and Yami Seto turned to Draco, a calm and sincere look on his face.  
  
"Hey, kiddo," he began, "it's the things we do and the things we learn that shape who we become. You learned that following your family's path isn't the only thing out there for you, and you grew and changed to adapt to the new choices presented to you. But even still, you should never be ashamed of what you used to be. Yes, there were several instances where others and I wanted to give you a good smack, but you were only the way you were because of what you knew then. It's nothing to be ashamed of."  
  
Draco smiled sheepishly at the encouragement. "Geeze… I never thought I'd be in an alley in Japan taking advice from a three thousand plus year old Egyptian high priest."  
  
Yami Seto grinned. "Amazing the curveball fate will throw you," he said, before he frowned. "What do you mean, 'plus'? You trying to make me sound like an old man?"  
  
Draco just smirked devilishly. "I think you've already exceeded the old man stage."  
  
The high priest pouted as Draco cracked up, holding his sides in laughter. Yami Seto grumbled, before smirking himself.  
  
"Oh yeah? Well, I'll have to show you what this old man can do!"  
  
That was the only warning Draco got as the high priest practically jumped on him, and fingers struck out in a tickle attack. The young wizard was nearly in tears, pleading for the taller spirit to stop.  
  
"Aw… surrendering already?" Yami Seto asked, before letting him go, a confident smirk on his face.  
  
"Bah!" Draco scoffed. "I'll get you—"  
  
He cut himself off, looking about at their surroundings. Was it just him, or was it… quite a bit… _darker_ than it was supposed to be…? Yami Seto looked about too, a frown on his face.  
  
"What did you call on the Shadow Realm for?" he asked.  
  
"Me?" Draco replied. "I didn't do it!"  
  
"Well, I sure as—!"  
  
A low, bone-chilling laugh cut the high priest off. The two of them backed up nervously, turning away from each other so that they were back to back as they looked around. Ever so slowly, the building walls that surrounded them and the paved ground and their feet faded away into a darkness swirled with a faint tinge of purple. Yami Seto looked about nervously, reaching behind him to hold onto Draco's arm; was that darkness that had inhabited Marik's body doing this? Was he not supposed to still be with…?  
  
"Ahh…" a voice purred from the darkness. "Looks like Voldemort-sama was correct… this spell really can bring on the Darkness."  
  
They turned their heads in the direction of the voice, in time to see two individuals dressed in Death Eater robes emerge from the darkness. Yami Seto moved so that he was facing the two darkly clad people, with Draco huddled behind him. One of the Death Eaters raised an arm, pointing a finely manicured finger at him.  
  
"We do not care about you, former high priest," came an almost snake-like hiss of a woman's voice. "We come only for the boy."  
  
Draco let out an almost inaudible "eep", ducking further behind Yami Seto.  
  
"So you use a spell to call on the Shadow Realm to do it?" he responded, keeping the hand he had on Draco's arm. "Isn't that rather… I don't know… redundant?"  
  
The other Death Eater that had spoken before, a man, just let out that same eerie laugh. "Say what you will," he said. "We care only about the boy. We promised his… _safe_ return to Malfoy-san."  
  
"I don't like the way he said that…" Draco muttered under his breath.  
  
"Neither do I," Yami Seto returned, before speaking louder, "You want Draco? It'll be over my dead body."  
  
The woman sneered. "I'm sorry, that's buried somewhere in Egypt."  
  
"Ha ha," the high priest replied dryly, not amused.  
  
The man stepped closer, his skull-shaped mask glowing strangely in the darkness. He pulled back his sleeve, revealing a Death Eater's black and green Duel Disk.  
  
"We will fight you on your own terms if you wish to make this difficult," he said as the woman revealed a similar Disk on her arm. "But we will be leaving here with the boy."  
  
A confident smirk grew on Yami Seto's face. "You'll loose, and then you _won't_ be leaving here."  
  
"Don't be so sure…" the woman hissed.  
  
Yami Seto looked over his shoulder, down toward Draco. The young wizard looked back up at him, a bit of a fearful look on his face, but he nodded, reaching into his backpack as he walked out from behind the ancient spirit. Yami Seto pulled his Duel Disk out from somewhere in his trench coat, and both of them slid the Disks on their arms with flourish.  
  
"If you want to die so badly, then you will when we're done with this duel," the priest declared.  
  
"I'm not going back to my old home," Draco stated. "My father can take this as my declaration of defiance against him!"  
  
_"Duel!"  
_  
Yami Seto: 4000  
Draco Malfoy: 4000  
  
Male Death Eater: 4000  
Female Death Eater: 4000  
  
"I'll take the first turn!" Draco exclaimed. "Draw!"  
  
He tried to keep the giddy expression off of his face as he added the new card he drew to his five card starting hand. What an unbelievably good hand! All four Magnet Warriors right there, from the start. Someone had to be smiling down on him from somewhere. He pulled out three of the Warriors, holding them up for the Death Eaters to see.  
  
"Magnet Warrior Alpha, Beta, and Gamma!" he announced, sliding each card into the graveyard. "Offered as sacrifices to special summon Magnet Balkilio!"  
  
Yami Seto grinned as the thirty-eight hundred attack point monster came onto the field. With such a strong start, their victory was most certainly a guarantee… though… The high priest frowned. Why did the Death Eaters not look worried…?  
  
"My turn," the woman announced. "Draw." There was a brief pause, before… "King Cobra, sign of attack."  
  
A long, white cobra appeared on the female Death Eater's side of the field, one so long and big it probably would have given Yami Bakura a heart attack. As it was, both Yami Seto and Draco gulped in nervousness as the snake reared back, puffing out its hood.  
  
"King Cobra has a special ability," the woman continued, her hissing voice coming out a mocking sneer. "If it is normal summoned successfully, it can latch onto the strongest monster on your side of the field, and drain half of its attack for our monsters to use."  
  
Draco let out a yelp as the cobra darted forward with an almost unseen swiftness, wrapping its long body around Magnet Balkilio before sinking its fangs into the monster's metal neck. The Magnet Warrior seemed to shudder in pain as its power was brought down to a mere nineteen hundred attack. Yami Seto scoffed, glaring at the cobra as the woman announced the end of her turn.  
  
"Still using your own mocked up cards?" he asked. "It's a disgrace to call you people duelists. I'll make sure you get the sticky end you deserve! Draw!"  
  
The high priest added the new card to his hand, looking over his cards carefully. Draco was probably going to be… well, surprised was hardly the word he would use, but that was the only one he could think of at the moment. After all, just as he was so much different from his hikari, so too was his new deck. The only thing he regretted was that he could not have a Blue Eyes White Dragon in this deck of his, but he was not stupid enough to risk asking his hikari for one.  
  
"Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, sign of attack!" he announced, allowing himself a small, private smile as he saw Draco's eyes widen at the sight of the armored, green cloaked ninja. "Also," he continued, sliding a card into a trap/magic slot, "activate equip magic card, Fuhma Shuriken, and equip it to the Grandmaster, increasing his attack by seven hundred!"  
  
Yami Seto nodded in satisfaction as a large shuriken appeared in the ninja's hand, powering him up from eighteen hundred to twenty-five hundred. He had a feeling, as he ended his turn, that if they were going to survive this battle, they had to stay alert and make absolutely sure that no matter what they did, it would affect their opponents somehow.  
  
"It's my turn," the male Death Eater announced. "Draw!"  
  
Another brief moment past, before the Death Eater set three magic or trap cards on his side of the field and ended his turn. Draco's eyes narrowed as he announced his turn, drawing a card. Odd… was the man acting as support while the woman attacked? What an odd way to duel… and with his Balkilio inhibited as it was…  
  
Wait… the woman never said that his Magnet Balkilio could not attack, just that half of its power was drained. Even at nineteen hundred attack, the magnet warrior would leave a sizable dent in the woman's life points, especially considering the only monster she had summoned was now equipped to his.  
  
"Magnet Balkilio!" he announced. "Directly attack that woman! Magnet Sword!"  
  
The magnet warrior rushed forward at his command, sword posed to attack…  
  
"Activate trap!" the man announced. "Negate Attack!"  
  
Magnet Balkilio stopped dead in its tracks, its sword just barely about to touch the woman. It shuddered a moment, before drifting back to a surprised Draco's side of the field.  
  
"And before you get any ideas," the man continued. "Activate trap: Mask of Restrict!"  
  
Draco's eyes widened. A card that prevented them from summoning monsters by sacrifice… Mask of Restrict and Negate Attack… they were not only using Death Eater cards, but _normal_ Duel Monsters cards as well! He set a card on the field and ended his turn, before turning a worried gaze to Yami Seto. This was not going to go easily…  
  
The woman announced her turn and drew a card, before placing it face up in attack position. A reptilian monster reminiscent of the ones the Death Eaters that ruined Battle City last year had used appeared, only this one had deep blue scales as apposed to green.  
  
"Serpent of the Deep Seas," she announced. "A Death Eater servant with normally nineteen hundred attack, but thanks to our gift from Magnet Balkilio…"  
  
Yami Seto could almost see the smirk on the woman's face as the serpent monster powered up. Great, just fabulous… It was no big mystery who her target was going to be, so he was not the least bit surprised as the monster came charging toward him. He braced himself, throwing his arms over his face as the serpent's trident impaled his ninja. Though… it was not like he did not have an ace up his sleeve…  
  
"Activate Fuhma Shuriken's second ability!" he shouted.  
  
Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke threw the shuriken in his hand, before disappearing into the graveyard. The weapon lanced out, spinning about until it impaled the woman in the chest. She gasped, more from surprise than pain, as the shuriken disappeared as if it had never been.  
  
Yami Seto allowed himself a brief snigger. "You attack me, lady, I'll be more than happy to attack you back!"  
  
He could almost picture the snarl on her face as she ended her turn. The high priest announced his, pulling a card from the top of his deck. Maybe, just maybe, this would not be so difficult after all…  
  
Yami Seto: 2700  
Draco Malfoy: 4000  
  
Male Death Eater: 4000  
Female Death Eater: 3300


	6. And Things Just Get More Dangerous

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family**

Yay! Now that this website finally decideds to WORK, I can upload the new chapter that I've worked so hard on. x.x

For all of you who have been patiently awaiting updates, thank you. Your patience isvery much appreciated. For those of you who don't realize that this is an important sidestory, and that not reading it will leave you confused later on in story five... well, you people just suck. :P

This story should be wrapped up in the next chapter or to, which means story five should be following shortly after. With any luck, I'll have story five finished by the time book six comes out in June (or was it July? I forgot...), so we'll all be looking forward to that.

Okay, enough from me. Read the chapter already. ;P

**CHAPTER SIX – AND THINGS JUST GET MORE DANGEROUS**

Visiting a new and strange country was certainly an experience that one could never forget. Stepping off the plane and finding billboards and signs in an entirely different language was just one shock. Looking around at the people in various modes of dress, all speaking an unusual tongue that could not be understood… that brought on a bit of nervousness. However, the young French witch known as Fleur Delacour tried not to let her unease show as she followed people she recognized from her plane, hoping to at least find the luggage pickup area quickly, and then with any luck find whomever Seto had sent to pick her up. Granted, she did not know much about his home life, other than he had a brother and he was in charge of a very wealthy company.

So, needless to say, when she suddenly found a rose in front of her and Seto holding said rose, she was more than a bit surprised.

"Zeto!" she exclaimed happily, throwing herself in his arms. "I 'onestly did not think you would pick me up."

Seto hugged her back warmly. "I've been making a point to set aside time for the people that matter most," he murmured before pulling away. "We better hurry, though. I don't want any paparazzi to show up."

Fleur nodded in understanding, allowing him to lead her to the luggage rack to pick up her things, before being led through a crowd of people to the outside parking lot. After a bit of a walk, they came to a stylish red sports car… that happened to have an Egyptian sprawled out across the back seat. She turned a questioning eye to Seto at that, getting an exasperated sigh out of him.

"He kidnapped my cell phone," he grumbled slightly, popping open the trunk and slipping her suitcase in before going around and opening the passenger's door for Fleur, helping her in and then heading to the driver's side, smacking Marik's dirty sneakers off the leather interior in the process. Marik rolled his eyes, snapping Seto's cell phone closed and tossing it up to him once he was settled in behind the wheel. He caught it, barely, turning around and giving him a dirty look that went ignored.

"Hey, Fleur, good seeing you again," Marik nodded in greeting, before turning to Seto, who was in the process of pulling the car out of its space. "Man, Seto, our pharaohs have been having a whole mess of trouble over in Egypt."

"How so?" Seto asked, starting to drive off, not taking his eyes off of the road. After all, traffic was hellish around an airport.

"They said there are Death Eaters swarming all over the place," he said, getting an alarmed sound out of Fleur. "They've been around Panseru's tomb and where Kuru Eruna used to be."

"What iz it zay are looking for?" Fleur asked.

"You got me," Marik admitted. "Panseru said from what the locals and the guardians that are still there have been saying, black robbed people have been showing up since around the time school let out."

"So Voldemort's looking for something buried under five thousand years worth of sand," Seto stated, making Fleur cringe slightly at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. "You think it might have to do with that new God Card you mentioned?"

"Most likely," Marik admitted. "I'm telling you, Seto, I don't know how that card can even exist. The Gravekeepers have no knowledge of Set ever being able to come to power in such a manner, and none of our good 'ole ancient spirits have ever seen it either. We have no idea what kind of power that thing holds, and Voldemort has it in his grubby hands."

Fleur shook her head, hair billowing back in the wind. "It iz worse. England'z Ministry of Magic does not recognize that zere iz anyth'ng wrong. Zay refuse to acknowledge that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named 'as returned, and zay discredit those who try to say he has."

"Great," Marik and Seto deadpanned at the same time.

"Those idiots don't realize their refusal to accept the truth will hurt them in the long run," Seto said, coming to a stop at a red light.

Marik made a sound of agreement, settling back in his seat and gazing out at the streets around them in slight boredom. It was just another warm and peaceful night in Domino; not a thing was amiss for once…

That was, until, he spotted the blotch of darkness that took up most of an alleyway.

He goggled at it a moment, before leaping out of the car, ignoring Seto's protests. Jogging up to the blotch, he reached out a hand to touch it; only to have his fingers reappear right next to said hand. Frowning, Marik pulled his hand away, backing up a bit as Seto and Fleur joined him.

"What the…?" Seto asked, blinking in bewilderment.

"What iz _that?" _Fleur demanded, an appalled look on her face.

Marik sighed, pointing to the darkness. _"That _is what a Yami-no-Game looks like on the _outside."_

-.oOOo.-

"My turn! Draw!"

Draco drew a card; hmm… Apprentice Magician… That might lead to a nice little trap. He hoped, anyway. That powered up Serpent of the Deep Seas was proving to be more than just a small nuisance. If he could destroy it or better yet, cut off the source of its power, it would not be so bad. However, with Mask of Restrict up, he could not offer sacrifices for anything, not even Magnet Balkilio's other effect.

"Summon Apprentice Magician, sign of attack!" he announced. "And end turn."

Yami Seto nearly panicked. "Attack!? Draco, that card only has four hundred attack points!"

The woman, however, let out a hissing laugh as she drew a card. "He already said end turn, priest… and he'll suffer for such a childish move!"

At her command, the Serpent of the Deep Seas struck out, easily cutting down the Apprentice Magician… but not before…

"Uncover trap, Enchanted Javelin!" Draco shouted, uncovering the trap card he had set previously, gaining the Serpent's attack power in the form of his Life Points, before damage was calculated from the attack. The woman's triumphant look turned into a scowl at that, not please.

"Don't get so cocky; I'm no amateur," he replied, holding up a card from his hand. "As part of Apprentice Magician's effect, I can special summon a level two or lower spellcaster in defense position."

Draco set the card face down on his field, a bit apprehensive. He hoped this would work…

Yami Seto: 2700  
Draco Malfoy: 4400

Male Death Eater: 4000  
Female Death Eater: 3300

Yami Seto announced his turn, drawing a card. He had tried to attack the male Death Eater before with a card, but he had countered with a quick magic card that destroyed his monster. He was saving his Life Points for something, that much was clear… but for what?

"Spear Dragon, in attack!" he announced, slapping the card onto his duel disk. The long-snout, blue dragon appeared on the field just as the priest pulled another card from his hand. "Also, activate magic card, Stamping Destruction!"

The green-bordered card appeared a moment after he slid it into the slot, showing a large dragon foot crushing something underneath it.

"I can activate this card when there's a dragon on my field, and destroy whatever trap or magic card I choose _and _deal direct damage to the owner," Yami Seto announced, a confidant grin on his face. "Spear Dragon!"

The dragon flew toward the male Death Eater, clawing at the Mask of Restrict trap card until it burst, the pieces from which lanced toward its owner, stabbing him in the chest and arms and decreasing his Life Point by five hundred. He held his chest in pain as the pieces of the trap disappeared into nothingness, glared at the priest.

"Battle phase!" Yami Seto announced. "Spear Dragon!"

Spear Dragon sped forward again, impaling the Death Eater in the chest with its spear-like snout. The man let out a pained cry, gripping his chest again as the dragon backed off, flying back to Yami Seto's side of the field and switching to defense position.

Yami Seto: 2700  
Draco Malfoy: 4400

Male Death Eater: 1600  
Female Death Eater: 3300

"Hope you weren't saving your life points for anything important," Yami Seto said, a smirk worthy of his hikari on his face. "End turn!"

The man snarled angrily, announcing his turn and drawing a card. He set three magic or trap cards on the field before ending it. Draco announced his turn, shooting the high priest a grateful look as he drew a card.

"Thanks to my partner, I can use Magnet Balkilio's other effect!"

The crippled magnet warrior suddenly split into three, returning to its original form of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma and destroying the King Cobra.

"All right!" Draco exclaimed, before reaching for his face down card and flipping it over to reveal Old Vindictive Magician. The Magician raised his staff, before rushing forward and cracking Serpent of the Deep Seas over the head with it. A weird yelp came from the Serpent, before it disappeared into the Graveyard, as part of the Magician's effect of destroying a monster once it's flip summoned.

"Now, Magnet Warriors, destroy that Death Eater!" Draco shouted, pointing to the female Death Eater. The Magnet Warriors flew forward, intent on destroying her…

"Reverse trap! Mirror Force!"

Draco yelped, covering his face with an arm as power burst out from the Mirror Force card on the male Death Eater's side of the field. All of his monsters stopped short of attacking the other Death Eater, bursting into bits and disappearing into the graveyard.

"Also," the man continued, activating another trap card, this one showing a monster suspended over a pit of snakes. "Snake Feed; this continuous trap enables me to gain five hundred life points for every one of your destroyed monsters."

Yami Seto: 2700  
Draco Malfoy: 4400

Male Death Eater: 3600  
Female Death Eater: 3300

Draco muttered obscenities under his breath in English, before setting a monster in defense position on the field. He was hoping to save that card for later, but…

"End turn."

The woman smirked, drawing a card, before placing another Serpent of the Deep Seas on the field. She eyed Draco a moment, before raising a finger, ready to command her monster to attack…

"Pft… you treat us like amateurs, when you idiots are really the greens," Yami Seto said suddenly, nearly making Draco jump. "You go to attack someone with a face down card? I hope you get nailed with another Vindictive Magician… and then I'll nail your Life Points."

She paused, her finger lowering a bit, before changing direction. "Serpent of the Deep Seas! Destroy Spear Dragon!"

Yami Seto winced as the Serpent destroyed his dragon, muttering a word of thanks to it as Spear Dragon disappeared into the graveyard. The woman ended her turn, seemingly smug, as if she had made a good move. While her move did put the priest at a bid of a disadvantage, with him not having monsters on the field and all, it was not like he was without resources.

"Spirit Dragon, sign of attack!" he announced as the wispy, blue-winged dragon appeared. "During my battle phase, I can sacrifice a dragon-type monster to increase this dragon's power by a thousand, and I'll do just that right now."

Yami Seto held up a Troop Dragon card, before sliding it into the graveyard. His dragon powered up to two thousand attack points, before flying out, attacking the Serpent of the Deep Seas, the faked monster soon joining it predecessor in the graveyard. The male Death Eater took a turn, but he did not have a card to play… and then it was back to Draco. He smirked as he drew a card, glancing down at it, before setting it in a magic/trap slot for insurance.

"Now to finish you off," he began, flipping over his face down card… "Summoner of Illusions! This card allows me to sacrifice a monster in order to bring out a monster from my fusion deck for this turn. So… Sacrifice my partner's Spirit Dragon!"

Spirit Dragon disappeared into the graveyard… and was soon replaced by a large, sort of disturbing mix of a kangaroo and a koala appeared. It had green skin, and was wearing boxing gloves with a wrestling belt slung over its shoulder… and was carrying quite an impressive attack value of forty-two hundred.

"Master of Oz, destroy that woman!" Draco ordered.

The Master of Oz rushed forward, its footsteps thudding and feeling like they were shaking the ground with each step. It punched the female Death Eater in the stomach, sending her flying along the ground a good few feet.

Yami Seto: 2700  
Draco Malfoy: 4400

Male Death Eater: 4600  
Female Death Eater: 0

As soon as the "defeated" sound on the woman's duel disk finished playing, the darkness around her swirled up, clutching at her, starting to pull her down through the ground. She screamed, struggling fitfully, but the darkness won. It pulled her down, deep into its depths until not even a hair of her was left. Yami Seto and Draco exchanged freaked out looks.

"Lets not loose, eh?" the priest muttered.

"Unh-hunh," Draco replied. "End turn."

Master of Oz disappeared into the graveyard; Summoner of Illusions' effect had run out just at the end of his turn. Yami Seto announced his turn, drawing before observing his hand. Hmmm… they just had one opponent left to defeat, but there was no need to rush and ruin their chances of winning… That, and this guy seemed to only have magic and trap cards in his deck…

"Mirage Dragon, sign of attack!" he announced as an eerie white dragon appeared. "While it's not very impressive attack wise, it does prevent you from activating traps during the battle phase, Death Eater, and that's all I need. Mirage Dragon! Attack!"

The dragon slithered forward, swiping at the remaining Death Eater as the man swore violently, staggering back a bit. Yami Seto smirked, before announcing the end of his turn.

Yami Seto: 2700  
Draco Malfoy: 4400

Male Death Eater: 3000  
Female Death Eater: 0

The man spat on the ground before drawing a card… and smirking wickedly.

"Time for me to send you to your deaths!" he announced. "Activate magic card, The Chosen One!"

The last card he had set previously flipped up, forming into a top with a face on each of its three sides, one of which was a happy face. Three cards appeared on each side of the top, before it started spinning around wildly. Yami Seto grit his teeth bracing himself; he knew this tactic…

"Around and 'round it goes…" the man sneered, chuckling evilly. "And where does it stop…?"

Spinning and spinning and spinning… the top finally came to a slow halt, the happy face pointing to a card on Yami Seto and Draco's left. The card slowly swung up to reveal a monster card… a very powerful, high level monster card with a frightening thirty-one hundred attack power. It appeared on the field a moment later, rising up from the ground; jet black serpentine face sneering down at them as it swung a staff anxiously in its hand.

"Guardian of Set!" the man announced, sounding almost giddy with evil glee. "A monster created by the Dark Master himself. A monster that has a very special effect… one that allows me to sacrifice my Life Points to power it up!"

Both Draco and Yami Seto took a step back as the Death Eater's Life Points dropped to one and the serpent monster powered up to a frightening six thousand ninety-nine attack points. The man sneered at them as the monster twitched anxiously, waiting to use its power…

"Guardian of Set! Destroy that Malfoy traitor!"

Seemingly grinning at the command, the serpent raised its staff, powering up a dreadful dark energy before swinging it down. The attack lanced out at Draco, and the mere monster he had on the field in attack position…

"Draco!" Yami Seto exclaimed, frantically looking through his hand, trying to find a quick magic card. Something, anything!

Draco, however, was keeping a cool head. He reached down; activating the "insurance" he had set on the field during his last turn.

"Magic Cylinder!"

In the end, it was very brief. Once the Cylinders appeared, the Guardian of Set's attack was instantly redirected straight at the one life point the Death Eater had remaining, wiping it and the man out in a blaze of dark glory, not even leaving a speck of ash behind.

Yami Seto: 2700  
Draco Malfoy: 4400

Male Death Eater: 0  
Female Death Eater: 0

After a moment, the monsters that were remaining swirled and faded away into nothingness. The darkness around the two of them soon followed, lightening, revealing the alleyway they had been walking down… and a surprised Seto and Fleur standing next to a peeved Marik.

"_What _in the name of _Ra _where you _thinking?!" _the Gravekeeper exclaimed, stomping up to them. "You don't start a Yami-no-Game in the middle of the Ra-be-dammed _city!"_

"Hey, it wasn't our idea this time!" Yami Seto exclaimed, putting a hand on Marik's face and pushing him away.

"Are you trying to say someone else called the Shadow Realm?" Seto asked skeptically.

"Exactly," Draco replied. "It was the Death Eaters."

Yami Seto shot Marik a hard look as Fleur gasped in surprise. "It looks like your old friend taught Voldemort a lot more than we bargained for," the priest said bitterly. Marik gave him a hard look at that, before turning away, letting out an irritated noise.

Before anyone could say anything else, Seto's cell phone went off. He grumbled slightly, pulling the device out of his pocket and flipping it open.

"Mushi mushi?" he answered. A brief moment passed before… "There was a _WHAT!? _All right… all right; I'll be there shortly."

He flipped the cell phone closed with a growl, getting several raised eyebrows. Fleur put a calming hand on his shoulder, looking up at him with concern in her eyes.

"What iz it?" she asked.

Seto blew out a frustrated sigh. "That was Mokuba's bodyguard. Apparently some nitwit tried to blow up the lobby of the hospital, and now Bakura and Yami Bakura are missing."


	7. Never an Anime Chick with a BAG When you...

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family **

Yay! I'm back, and with a huge update to boot. Everyone, enjoy the final chapters of _A Matter of Family!_

**CHAPTER SEVEN – NEVER AN ANIME CHICK WITH A B.A.G. WHEN YOU NEED HER**

To say that the hospital and the surrounding area were in a state of chaos would have been a bit of an understatement. Even as Seto pulled up in his over stuffed convertible, he could see smoke still rising from the bottom floor of the building as police worked to section off the area, and reporters tried to butt their way in. Draco stared in amazement as Yami Seto leapt out of the car and Marik let out a defeated sigh.

"Why can't we ever have a _normal _summer?" he uttered as the others piled out of the car.

Seto rushed into the crowd almost instantly, pushing people out of his way and looking over the crowd for Mokuba (something that was not too difficult at his height). He called out for his little brother, starting to get frantic, before he heard his voice over the crowd.

"Onii-sama! Over here!"

He followed his voice, coming to where some people were clustered together next to an ambulance, the back of which was opened up and doctors were inside treating people with minor injuries. Mokuba and his bodyguard were nearby, his little brother fingering a small patch of gauze on his forehead. Seto rushed over instantly, practically dropping to his knees and hugging Mokuba tightly.

"Are you all right? What happened?" he asked, pulling back and eyeing the patch.

"I'm all right, onii-sama," Mokuba assured him. "Just some idiot pushed me and I knocked my head on the pavement. Don't worry, Isona already punched the guy."

He waved up to his bodyguard, who just coughed slightly, drawing a smirk out of Seto. Mokuba tugging on his sleeve brought his attention back to him.

"Onii-sama, I saw them," he said urgently. "After the explosions went off, some guys dressed liked doctors went into Bakura-kun's room. I ran after them, but when I opened the door both the doctors and the Bakuras weren't there, and they couldn't have left the room before I got there; I would have seen them."

Seto hugged him again. "It's okay, Mokuba. We'll find them."

He bit his lip, not so sure about his brother's confidence, but nodded anyway. He looked up then, just as Fleur and the others finally caught up.

"Are you my onee-sama?" he asked Fleur, causing Seto's face to turn a brilliant shade of red.

Fleur tilted her head to the side, confused. "Onee… zama…?" she repeated.

Seto coughed, standing back up. "Don't ask," he muttered as he heard his yami and Marik sniggering behind them. He took Mokuba's hand, squeezing it tight, before turning his attention to Isona and dismissing him for the night. The bodyguard nodded, before walking off into the crowd.

"All right, everyone," Seto began, turning back to the others. "We need to find Bakura and Yami Bakura. Quickly. If that demented uncle of his would go this far, who knows what else he'll do."

"Shouldn't we try to find that staff thing that Bakura mentioned too?" Marik asked. "You know, just in case? We may need to use it as leverage."

"I don't know how that thing can exist, though," Yami Seto muttered, a thoughtful look on his face. "I don't remember Panseru or his father ever having something like that."

"Well, either way," Draco began, "we need to get out of here, before we attract—"

"Oh my _dear _Mokuba!"

The voice that rang out from the crowd was not familiar to the others, but it apparently struck a cord with the Kaiba brothers. Mokuba hid behind his brother as Seto turned, glaring at the two people that were approaching quickly through the crowd. The man was short and squat, almost looking like the Japanese counter part of Harry's Uncle Vernon, while the woman was definitely a relation of Seto's, as she was tall and thin with fine straight brown hair.

"You rotten boy!" the man exclaimed, glaring at Seto. "How dare you put your brother in such a dangerous position!"

"Poor Mokuba…" the woman cooed, bending down and holding out her arms. "Come to your aunt, dear."

Mokuba, however, just hid further behind Seto, who had a positively murderous look on his face. Yami Seto winced, feeling the rage at the mere sight of the two of them coming off his hikari in waves. He decided to step up, hoping to intervene and get things settled peacefully before that rage exploded; he knew it was not going to be pretty if it did.

"Look, now's not the best time to be bothering with us," the priest stated, resting a hand on Seto's shoulder. "Why don't you just bugger off and we'll talk to you later, eh?"

The woman glanced up at him, giving him a distasteful look. "What are you supposed to be? Some kind of body double?"

Yami Seto sweatdropped. "Something like that," he replied dryly. "C'mon, Seto, lets go."

"Oh, you can go," the man said sternly, "but Mokuba is coming with us."

"_Out _of the question," Seto responded before his yami could beat him to it. "I'm not letting either of you lay a hand on my brother."

"Well, he's obviously not safe in your care," the woman declared, standing up and fixing a hard look on Seto. He returned it with a piercing gaze of his own, one that made Marik cringe behind him, and he was not even looking at him directly.

"And what is he in your care?" Seto demanded, he anger rising to the point where it would boil over any minute. "I know you miserable people too well… you intend to use him as a link into our company, leeching it dry before dropping him, _just _like you did to us the first time!"

"Tch! What do you know, child?" the man asked. "Money is meant to be used, as well as anything involved in getting that money. Your father didn't understand that, and apparently, neither do you. Ha… he was a self righteous bastard too, and look at all the good it did him—"

Seto did not know what happened after that. One moment he was practically seeing red, the next moment he heard Fleur gasp in surprise and felt his fist throbbing. Below him, his uncle was sprawled out on the ground, holding the side of his face where he had punched him, the red quickly darkening into a nasty bruise. He looked up at him, eyes wide in surprise, as if he had never counted on Seto ever striking him.

"How _dare _you speak of my father that way…" Seto hissed darkly, looming over his uncle, making him back up in fear of being struck again. "Even a lecherous creature like Gonzaboru was twice the man that you are, you _scum!" _He glared at both of them, making them back away further. "Go back to the sewer you crawled out of, before I shove you down there!"

With that, he turned his back to them, snapping a, "Lets go!" to the others. Mokuba paused long enough to razz his aunt and uncle before following his brother off into the crowd with everyone else. Marik looked back on the brothers' aunt and uncle as they walked off, whistling softly.

"I've never seen Seto that pissed," he muttered to Yami Seto, who just sighed.

"Yeah… me neither. I was hoping I never would," he admitted.

Seto did not stop walking until they got to the car. There, he paused, his hand on the door… before letting out a tired sigh.

"Sorry… everyone…" he murmured. "I… tried not to… but…"

He trailed off, unable to find the words to finish. Mokuba looked up at him sadly, before hugging his brother tightly.

"It's okay, onii-sama," he murmured. "They deserved it."

Seto looked down at him sadly, before his gaze drifted up to Fleur. He winced inwardly, realizing she did not know what was going on, as she did not understand a word of Japanese. She smiled softly, however, reaching out to grip his arm comfortingly. Smiling back as best he could at the moment, he let his gaze drift over to the others. Amazing the kind of surrogate family he had developed over the years; what happened to the loner that cared for nothing but his brother and his company?

"All right; we need to head out," he stated after a moment. "Splitting up would be our best bet. Marik, Draco, Fleur; use the Ring to find out where the Bakuras were taken. Yami Bakura mentioned that Bakura's father wasn't home when he checked before he was kidnapped. Either he's already left the country, or he's in a hotel waiting to do so. The rest of us will try to hunt him down."

"Sounds good," Marik said approvingly. "Just one thing; can you drop us at my house first?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Why…?"

Marik did not answer; he just smiled a very disturbing smile that made people like Seto very concerned…

-.oOOo.-

Yami Bakura moaned softly, feeling like his head was splitting open in several places. He could not remember much of what happened; Mokuba said he was going off to get a soda, then the floor started shaking, then two doctors bust into the room and tried to take Ryou… There was a high chance he had punched one or both of them before everything went black, but he could not recall for sure. Opening his eyes did not give him many answers, other than the fact that he was tied up again, and this time it looked like someone had done it right. He moved stiffly, trying to get into a comfortable position… before pain hit his face as someone hit him with the butt of a rifle.

"Hey boss, this one's awake," came a man's voice as the thief muttered obscenities under his breath. A moment later, he felt the back of his head grabbed and pulled back roughly, making him yowl in pain. Blinking his eyes open, it took a moment for his vision to adjust again before he was able to properly glare at the man above him.

"Why, hello again, camel-ass face," he sneered. "Sorry to see you're still alive."

Ryou's uncle, Kyle, just smiled pleasantly as he let him go in favor of tapping a small black box with little silver knobs on the one end in the palm of his hand. Yami Bakura frowned at it. Now… where had he seen one of those before…?

"We're going to play a little game, my dark friend," he said patiently. "A little game of questions and answers. You see… I'm going to ask the questions, and you're going to answer. If I don't like the answers… your hair's going to have a few more spikes in it."

The tomb robber gulped. Oh… right… _that's _where he had seen one of those…

-.oOOo.-

Domino City streets were almost deathly quiet that night… almost. A sudden roar of a small engine followed by a whoop of delight and two screams of terror broke through the silence. Barely a moment later, a small motorcycle that looked like a cobbled together version of a 1990 CB750 Honda and a XL 883C Sportster King with an unusual set of customizations was ripping down the main street… with one rider and two terrified passengers aboard.

"Marik, you're bloody insane!" Draco shouted to be heard over the wind and the roar of the engine, clinging to the Egyptian's waist for dear life. Fleur was behind, clinging to him and muttering soft prayers in French under her breath.

"What are you complaining for!" Marik shouted back, grinning like a madman as he took a turn without slowing down. "This is fun!"

"We are going to die…" Fleur whimpered.

Marik shook his head slightly; what a bunch of spoilsports. "Don't worry! It looks like the Ring is pointing us toward the warehouses! We should be there soon!"

"_GOOD!"_

Marik just sighed.

-.oOOo.-

Finding the hotel that Anji Bakura was staying at was not too much of a problem. Seto drove, while Mokuba followed the trail of his credit card on his brother's laptop, and Yami Seto made idle comments about what would happen with Fleur once they got home that would have gotten him decked if his hikari was not preoccupied with his driving. It was getting into the hotel room itself that was presenting most of the trouble. Bakura's father was refusing to open the door, no matter how hard Seto banged on it.

"Bakura-san! Open this door immediately, or I will pay to have the hosts kick you out!" he shouted angrily.

"Way to put the fear of corporate Japan in him, hikari," Yami Seto mumbled.

Seto shot him a glare as the door opened slightly, just enough to reveal the elder Bakura's eyes.

"What do you people want?" he demanded. "Don't you know what time of night it is?"

"Don't you know your son's been in the hospital because of that uncle of his!" Seto shot back, irritated.

Anji's eyes narrowed. "I tried calling the hospital, but they told me he was asleep, and wouldn't wake till morning."

"Would have helped if you actually went there," Mokuba muttered under his breath.

"Well, you're going to have to try and call where ever that Kyle took him," Seto responded hotly. "He wants that scepter your wife found. Since you're not doing a damn thing about it, we will, and we'll need that artifact."

Anji muttered something under his breath, before slamming the door closed. Seto was about to start pounding on the door, when it swung open all the way this time, allowing them into the small room. On the bed, there was already a packed suitcase; apparently, Bakura's father had already planned on leaving the next day. Seto muttered an obscenity at that, as the man went over to the suitcase and popped it open… before pulling down a flap on it to reveal a hidden compartment. There was the scepter, exactly as Bakura had described; shining silver with dazzling gems set on it.

Yami Seto went up to inspect the object as Anji went over to complain to Seto. The high priest frowned down at it. Odd… very odd indeed… He was hoping that by actually seeing it, he would have remembered something about it, but nothing sprang familiar. Something as rare as a _silver _scepter he probably would have remembered… He picked it up… and frowned instantly. This was awfully light for something that was supposed to be solid silver…

"Hey… hikari…?" he began, giving the scepter a closer look.

Seto stopped mid argument. "What is it?"

"Last time I checked…" Yami Seto started, frowning at something on the scepter's base. "We didn't import our miracle granting scepters from Taiwan."

Anji looked away as Seto's face twisted into something that resembled one teed-off individual. He caught the elder man by the shirt, twitching slightly as Mokuba backed away.

"Care… to explain…?" he asked quietly, looking like he was going to hit Anji any minute. The elder man gave him a disdainful look, shrugging him off his shirt.

"It was my wife's idea," he began. "She knew Kyle was getting out of control… so when the police approached her with a plan to capture him, she didn't back away. The… only thing she didn't count on was the cancer she died from before the plan could be completed. I was talking with the detectives that she had been working for when Ryou and Amane were kidnapped. I… none of us thought he'd actually want it for what it could do… and we didn't think he would go that far."

"Oh, and that's why you left Ryou alone too?" Yami Seto replied critically. "Because you didn't think?"

Anji sighed tiredly. "I had just lost my wife, and then my daughter so shortly after. I did only what I thought was best for him; I was a wreck, and my work was the only thing I could face. I sent him presents so he knew I was still around for him. Like that ring… which he seems to have lost," he added bitterly.

Seto glared down at him with enough power to make him cringe. "If you knew half of the story behind that Ring, you would be much more concerned," he snapped, before turning to his yami and brother. "Lets go. We've wasted enough time here."

With that, the three of them left, leaving Anji alone with a toy scepter and broken memories…

-.oOOo.-

"_GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"_

Yami Bakura fell over, or at least as far over as his bonds would let him. He gasped for breath as he glared up at Kyle, trying to ignore the fact that he could feel some of his muscles twitching. Apparently, his hikari's uncle was not too fond of the answers he had for his stupid questions. Not only that, but the man seemed to be counting on that; normally those things had enough charge in them to kill a human being. Sure, he was made of tougher stuff… but he doubted that had anything to do with it in this case.

"Hmm… you're not fairing too well in this game, are you?" Kyle said mockingly.

"Must be because I'm afraid you'll start farting out of your mouth," Yami Bakura shot back. "Camel farts don't smell too nice, 'ya know. Look, I don't know about your Ra be damned scepter, and I couldn't give a shit about it either. So why don't you let me go, and you just go off and blow steam out of your ass somewhere else?"

At first, the tomb robber thought he was going to zap him again… but then a twisted sort of smile appeared on Kyle's face.

"Perhaps I shall…" he sneered. "I'm sure Ryou will be more than willing to surrender the information I need…"

Yami Bakura was practically glaring swords. "Touch my hikari, and I'll make you wish you were never born…"

Kyle let out a sinister sounding laugh, before settling the stun gun under his chin, forcing his head to tilt up.

"Well, then…" he whispered. "You're going to tell me everything I want to know, aren't you…?"

The tomb robber just continued to glare. "No, I'm going to let you touch Ryou, so I have an excuse to rip you apart piece by piece."

There was no denying the fact that Kyle was going to hit the button on the stun gun that time and shut up Yami Bakura's sarcastic comments forever. Fortunately, though, the roar of an engine cut him off. Bakura's uncle backed away, ordering some of the men gathered to check the entrance… just as a window above shattered. The surprised henchmen turned, firing off shots that were far wide of their target as the bike and it's insane driver (and unfortunate passengers) landed with the squeal of tires.

"S'cuse me! Pardon me! Comin' through! Hey, don't shoot my fucking bike; you know how much it cost to put this together!"

Yami Bakura sweatdropped. Marik… of course…

The motorcycle plowed through the clump of Kyle's henchmen, leaving those that were not smart enough to get out of the way with broken toes. The bike came to a skidding halt on the other side of the group, and Marik hopped off easily (and Bakura caught sight of Draco falling off out of the corner of his eye). In the next instant, a cloaked Gravekeeper's Assassin was diving into the thugs, knife flashing… and Yami Bakura started to get to work. Just as he had gotten to the knot binding his hands together, however, he felt a knife slip under the ropes, cutting them.

"Thanks, kid," the tomb robber said with a grin, taking the knife from Draco and cutting the ropes at his feet.

"No problem, just promise me we don't have to ride back on Marik's bike…" the young wizard replied, sounding a little sick.

Yami Bakura smirked, and was about to reply when a gunshot went off over his head, forcing them both to the ground. He swore violently, glaring back up toward the gaggle of thugs trying to shoot down the Duel Monster.

"Dammit… never a blue-haired anime chick with a big ass gun when you need her," he grumbled, drawing a sweatdrop out of Draco.

There was a sudden shout, followed by a bang; apparently Fleur had finally recovered from Marik's insane driving "skills" and was assisting the Gravekeeper's Assassin in taming the confused henchmen. Yami Bakura took that opportunity to look around; Kyle had disappeared somewhere in the mess, and he could not see his hikari anywhere. However, he spotted what looked like a foreman's office on the other side of the building from where he was. If Ryou was going to be anywhere…

The tomb robber checked to make sure that Draco would be okay, before dashing around the confused mass of people as fast as he could, wincing as he could still feel his muscles still twitching. Fortunately, he made it without any trouble, and when he opened the door, his theory on Ryou's whereabouts was proven correct. Someone up there must have been smiling down on him for once.

"Ryou!" he called, rushing over to where he was laid out on a makeshift bed. "Ryou, you okay?"

Bakura's eyes blinked open at his frantic shout, gazing up at him blearily. "Bakura?" he asked. "Where are we?"

"Ra only knows," the tomb robber replied, attempting to help him stand. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Bakura smiled weakly at his yami's words, gripping onto his arms tightly as his own plaster encased legs started to wobble under him from the effort. He glanced over to the side a moment, and Yami Bakura saw his eyes widen. He was about to ask what was wrong, when suddenly Ryou pushed him…

…and then the shot rang out…

Yami Bakura's eyes widened in horror as he stumbled, somehow succeeding in staying on his feet and catching his hikari as he crumpled in pain, the side of his pajama's starting to darken to red. There was another shot, and the man that had attempted to kill the tomb robber thudded to the ground, revealing Kyle standing behind him.

"Intelligent help is so hard to find nowadays," he snarled angrily, but Yami Bakura was not paying attention to him.

"Ryou… Ryou…! You all right!" he shouted, trying to keep his panic down.

"Ow…" Bakura whimpered, his face twisted up in pain.

Yami Bakura held him close, feeling his heart practically stop. No… no, things could not end like this! It hurt… it was horrible… He could feel his very soul crying out, shouting in agony. _It was not fair!_

Then… and then… he felt something else… Normally he would have overlooked it… but lately he had been searching for it… Something familiar, yet different; it was something that had changed over the course of time… not much change, but just enough for him to overlook it. The answer had been so obvious, staring him right in the face – literally! – and he had not even noticed…

"Well," Kyle grumbled suddenly, lowering his gun on Yami Bakura, "if he's going to die, your usefulness as run—"

Bakura's uncle was cut off, as darkness suddenly started to swirl around the tomb robber and his hikari. A mere moment passed, yet it felt like so much longer, before Yami Bakura looked up to him, smiling that disturbing smile of his… the kind of smile he had not given anyone since he had been freed from his mental imprisonment.

"Ah, ah, ah…" Yami Bakura sneered, his voice taking on a creepy, mocking tone. "Poor, dear Kyle… You've messed with a reaper of souls… and now it's my turn to collect…"

Kyle's eyes suddenly widened in terror. He backed up, dropping his gun… just as something huge started to take form behind yami and hikari… something with a muscled, human-like upper body… and the writhing lower body of a snake…


	8. Epilogue

**Yu-Gi-Oh!  
A Matter of Family **

**EPILOGUE – FINALLY A NORMAL SUMMER**

It was a lazy summer day like any other, one that found Draco behind the counter of the Kame Game Shop with a newspaper spread out on the counter. Admittedly, he still did not understand kanji that well, but he knew enough of it that he could at least get the general idea of what they were talking about in the various articles. Besides, if he ever got completely stumped, Grandpa Mutou was just in the backroom behind him.

That, and pictures helped a lot too; currently he was grinning over one that had been taken by an amateur photographer, depicting a large, shadowy figure hovering over the warehouse district. It was very blurry, but Draco could easily define the form of the monster that Bakura and Ryou had summoned. He grinned as he remembered the thugs that had been fighting against Fleur's magic and Gravekeeper's Assassin just stopped dead as the monster broke through the roof of the warehouse they were in.

Draco had to admit though, he was glad that no one had figured out what happened afterwards, even though two weeks had passed since then. Though, like Bakura said, there was not enough left of Kyle to scrape up with a toothpick, so…

Grinning privately, Draco folded up the newspaper just as the door chime sounded. He turned to greet the customer… but stopped before he could get a word out. A tall and thin woman had entered, with long blonde hair spun up into a bun and a severe look on her face.

"M…mum…" Draco murmured, standing up.

Narcissa Malfoy walked up to the counter, her long dress and robes sweeping along the floor. She looked down upon her son condemningly, eyebrow raised as she observed his casual t-shirt (which had a super deformed print of Saint Joan on it) and tattered jeans.

"Since your father's crude and ineffective efforts to get you to return have failed utterly," she began, her voice as cold as the expression on her face, "I have taken it upon myself to get you to come back to where you belong. I dislike you associating with such… foreign riff-raff."

Draco frowned; talking back to his father had become easy. Talking back to his mother… that was something else.

"If you're referring to my friends, I'm sorry to disappoint you. They're not riff-raff," he stated, just as the door opened to the store and a customer walked in. "They're good people; better than I could have ever hoped for."

Narcissa let out a displeased sound. "The people you associated with before were good people."

"Good people how?" Draco replied. "Mum, we were cruel. We hurt people for no reason, and we took pride in it. How is that good people?"

"And how is this good?" Narcissa shot back, waving her hand to indicate the whole store. "Sitting behind a counter, serving muggles; this is beneath you, Draco."

As if on cue, the customer came up with their purchase. Draco rang through the amount on the register, taking the customer's money and giving them change before putting their purchase in a bag. The customer thanked him, and he returned in kind as the person left.

"It's good work, mum; it's honest work," Draco replied. "It may be 'beneath me' as you said, but at least I'm having fun… smiling, laughing, enjoying myself… Mum, I could never have this kind of enjoyment with the way things were before."

Narcissa continued to glare down at him, her critical gaze boring through Draco… before her feature's finally softened.

"Draco, you are my son," she began, "and I want what's best for you…"

"This is best for me, mum," Draco urged. "I belong here; I have fun here."

"But you make yourself an enemy of the Dark Lord this way," she returned softly. "You've heard your father's stories; they were not exaggerations. You know of the deceit and destruction He's capable of."

Draco gave her a determined look. "I know what he can do," he agreed. "I've seen it; I've seen his Death Eaters summon the Shadows with a spell. I've become a guardian of that Realm, mum, and as such, I can't let that abuse of it to continue."

An almost sad look appeared on his mother's face, before she leaned down, hugging him from across the counter. Draco blinked in surprise; he could not even remember the last time she hugged him like this…

"You risk your life… for this…?" she asked.

Draco nodded his determination, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her back tightly. "I won't run. I won't hide. Like Harry. Like everyone else. If I ever did, no matter how scared I was at the time, I'd never forgive myself."

She pulled back then, running a hand through his tussled hair. "You've grown strong…" she murmured. "Perhaps this change has done you good…"

Draco was about to reply, when suddenly the door burst open with a loud clang of the welcome bell. His mother pulled away in surprise at the rude interruption, to reveal a half panicked Jounouchi standing in the doorway.

"Draco-kun! What are you still doing here!" he said quickly, almost too quickly for the young wizard to understand. "C'mon! We're going to be late to the airport!"

Draco's eyes widened. "Crap!" he exclaimed, before turning up to his mother. "Mum, I've got to go…"

Narcissa smiled softly, nodding in understanding. "Go on…"

Draco paused for a brief moment, smiling back, before his mother turned and left the shop. He watched her leave, ignoring Jounouchi when he asked him who that was. He hoped… he hoped she would not get in trouble with his father… because of him…

"Mutou Ojii-san!" he shouted, turning toward the backroom. "We've got to go!"

-.oOOo.-

_Clackaclackaclackaclacka…_

Yami Seto was not surprised by the sound that greeted his ears as he snuck into his hikari's office, a bit of a prideful smirk on his face. A few days ago, he paid Seto's aunt and uncle a little visit and… encouraged them that dropping Mokuba's adoption would be in their best interest. Sure, he really should not have been so… persuasive, but his hikari had been under enough stress lately. He did not need that piled up on top of everything else. Besides, the look of relief on Seto's face when he got the notice stating that the case had been dropped made it worth the effort.

Mokuba looked up from where he was playing his Gameboy Advance SP on the couch, grinning up at him.

"Welcome back, mou hitori no onii-sama," he said brightly.

"Heyya, kiddo," Yami Seto returned, before looking over to his hikari… to see he had not looked up from the computer screen. What a surprise.

"You didn't crash the car, did you?" Seto asked, his voice flat as all his concentration was focused on what he was typing.

The high priest rolled his eyes. "Driving isn't _that _difficult," he returned, tossing Seto the keys. Somehow, his hikari switched to typing one handed long enough to catch the keys and set them on the desk before switching back to typing with both hands… all without breaking his typing speed. Yami Seto sweatdropped; only his hikari…

"Anyway, Fleur's waiting in the car," he stated. "We should head off as soon as you can un-glue your eyes from the monitor, aibou."

Seto's lip twitched as he saved the document he was working on before turning to him. "Don't call me that. It's cute when you're short with spiky hair, but when you're a businessman, people might get the wrong idea."

Yami Seto raised an eyebrow. "What kind of wrong idea?"

Mokuba nearly fell off the couch, howling in laughter, as Seto turned bright scarlet. "I have a girlfriend!" he protested. "So do you!"

"Yes, and they're currently waiting in a hot car in the middle of Domino City summer," the priest countered. "Shall we go?"

-.oOOo.-

Bakura jumped when he heard the _clack_ of the mailbox outside, snapped out of the mindless stupor he had fallen into while watching the talking box. He shook his head, trying to clear it, before looking over to the couch where Ryou was, only to see that his hikari had fallen asleep. A soft smile crept onto his face despite himself; the past couple of weeks had proven to be filled with a difficult recovery for Ryou, but in a way it seemed like a piece of his soul was at ease at the same time. Bakura had yet to catch him writing a letter to his sister, and had even started to allow people to refer to him by his first name (which was good for him in a way; he was tired of people tacking "Yami" before his name).

The tomb robber stretched his arms over his head, before getting up and going outside to grab the mail. It was the usual collection of crap and junk mail… except for one. Bakura held up the small envelope, which just had a simple "I2" in the corner for a return address.

"Heh heh…" Bakura sniggered, heading back into the house. "Looks like that old man pulled through for me."

He tossed the rest of the mail on the table to be thrown out (or laughed at) later, before holding up the envelope from I2 and allowing himself a private smirk. In the next instant, the envelope was ripped open, and it's contents were shook out onto the table.

Bakura stared down at the simple card in something a kin to reverence, letting his fingers brush against it ever so slightly. It was a level ten effect monster… only unlike most effect monsters, its boarder was deep, dark brown with flakes of tan woven into the coloring, almost making it look like the desert sands. It had an impressive four thousand attack and defense, and an even more impressive ability of being able to add to the attack and defense power of all the monsters it defeated in battle to its own. The picture on the card was equally eye-catching, with the secret-rare card foiling bringing out its well muscled upper torso and adding an extra glare to its snakehead tail.

Diaboundou, the God of Thieves…

Bakura smirked again. It was the same monster he had summoned against Kyle, and now it was going to help him torment some Death Eaters and others foolish enough to mess with him.

He made his way back to the living room, looking in on his hikari. It was amazing how the answer to summoning the monster was so incredibly obvious, that it had just totally blown over his head. Simply… his hikari was the light half of his soul… _half of himself…_

It was no surprise that half of the thief's god was also part of Ryou's soul.

Bakura glanced sidelong at the clock. Hmm… the pharaoh and his hikari were coming home today, and everyone wanted to get together to welcome them back. As much as he did not want to wake Ryou, he supposed they should make the effort to greet them.

He went over to the couch, kneeling slightly, before reaching down to give Ryou's side a gentle shake. In an instant, his hand shot up, gripping Bakura's arm in a tight grasp and making the tomb robber blink in surprise. Ryou did not let go, however, and the thief shook his head, a sheepish grin creeping up on his face. Okay… so the pharaoh would have to go without their presence for once.

Bakura looked down at his hikari's sleeping face… Odd… he never really thought of it before, but… Ryou… Ryou was something precious… He may not love his hikari in the same respect that the pharaoh loved his… but…

That did not mean he would not go to the ends of the earth to protect him.

His smile turned a bit tender, before he whispered, "I've got all the family I want… all the family we really need… right here…"


End file.
